International
Puerto Rican voters in the US do not forget the insult to Puerto Rico by casting their vote
Life in El Barrio, the traditional Puerto Rican neighborhood of New York, took place this Tuesday with businesses open and almost empty like their streets, unlike polling centers where the flow of voters did not stop, a large number of them ‘boricuas’ who, when casting their vote, did not forget the insult to their country that a Republican supporter made at a rally last October 27.
“That offended me, that’s not said,” Juan, 67, told EFE, accompanied by his brother William, 68, who, in a wheelchair and having trouble speaking, moved his head giving him the reason. (they referred to the qualifier of Puerto Rico as a “floating garbage island” pronounced by a comic ‘headline’ at a Trump rally in New York).
Both were born in Puerto Rico and today voted for the Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, like many other residents of El Barrio, where no surprises are expected with the results, at least there.
However, voters interviewed by EFE expressed their concern about the country’s overall results in the face of an electoral race against Republican Donald Trump, which has been characterized by its very narrow margins.
Annoyance for comments
These were the second elections as a citizen for the Mexican Maricruz Eduardo, who said at the exit of the polling station that she supported Harris because she believes in the power of women. “I am one of them,” she said, “by raising four children alone in New York, with whom she emigrated only with a Mexican peso “that they gave me when she was going to come.”
Eduardo said she was upset with Trump’s comments against immigrants because, he recalled, she worked hard to get her children ahead as a seamstress and then as a caregiver at home. “I want women to win!” he said.
The presidential elections in centers visited by EFE in the Bronx and Harlem have attracted a large number of people, who alone or accompanied by relatives, in wheelchairs or with canes, came early to cast their vote.
“Many people have come, even people who had not voted before” although they are registered to vote, commented a worker from El Bronx.
In El Barrio it was no different. Congressman Adriano Espaillat also voted there, who attended with a delegation of Dominican legislators whom he invited to observe the process in the district he represents and that includes Harlem.
“I was surprised by the level of voting today because many already voted early. Hispanics have gone out to vote in large numbers,” he said, and assured that at the end of the election “there will be surprises.”
He expressed “optimistic” that in the seven ‘hinge’ states, which are key to the results, they end up leaning towards Harris.
Passions and divisions
Trump’s candidacy provokes passions among his followers and has divided even families, a community activist from Hispanic Harlem told EFE, who was outraged by the comments of the Republican comedian who called Puerto Rico an “garbage island” and who cannot understand “how a Puerto Rican can vote for Trump.
Margarita even spoke about Trump and the Republicans’ position of opposing abortion by recalling that she had to undergo one because her five-month-old fetus had died. “I had access to health services,” which not many women have in states where they have passed very restrictive anti-abortion laws that have already cost the lives of some women, she says.
While in Midtown, the head of a polling center, Michael Bushman, explained that unlike other years, today there have been fewer queues, since in the nine days of early voting “many people came.”
New York began allowing early voting in 2019.
“Before early voting existed, queues formed that went around the block, but since people have nine days to vote in advance, there are no queues. Today, there is a constant but fluid movement. Voters don’t have to wait an hour or two,” says Bushman.
In total, 1,089,328 residents of the city voted in advance, a number slightly lower than in the 2020 presidential elections, when more than 1.1 million people voted before election day.
International
French Parliament Moves to Approve Social Media Age Limit for Minors
France’s Parliament is expected to approve legislation on Tuesday banning children under the age of 15 from accessing social media platforms, following an agreement reached Monday between lawmakers on the mechanism to enforce the measure.
The initiative is part of President Emmanuel Macron’s broader effort to strengthen online protections for minors and regulate children’s screen time before the end of his second presidential term in May 2027.
“Tomorrow, France will become the first country in Europe to establish a digital age of majority to better protect our children online,” Digital Affairs Minister Anne Le Hénanff said Monday in a post on X.
If approved, the government plans to implement the restriction in September, when students return to school after the summer holidays.
The United Kingdom has already passed similar legislation restricting social media access for users under the age of 16, although that measure is scheduled to take effect in early 2027.
Both the National Assembly, France’s lower house of Parliament, and the Senate are expected to hold final votes on the legislation Tuesday after a joint committee of seven senators and seven lawmakers reached an agreement on the bill’s final wording.
Under the proposed law, children under 15 years old would be prohibited from accessing online social media services, with limited exceptions for certain platforms, including online encyclopedias.
The legislation would make France the first member of the European Union to introduce a nationwide minimum digital age for access to social media platforms, reflecting a growing international movement to strengthen online safeguards for children and teenagers.
International
WHO to Hold New Round of Talks After Slow Progress on Pandemic Accord
Member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) made limited progress during the seventh session of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) tasked with finalizing a key annex to the global pandemic agreement, prompting negotiators to schedule another round of talks in September.
The session, which opened on July 6 and concluded last week at WHO headquarters in Geneva, focused on drafting and negotiating the annex covering the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) System, a central component of the pandemic accord.
Without the completion of the PABS annex, the global pandemic agreement cannot enter into force.
The annex had originally been expected to be finalized before May 2026, but negotiations have progressed more slowly than anticipated.
In a statement, the WHO said member states “advanced negotiations” on the PABS system while acknowledging that additional discussions are required to complete a framework capable of supporting a faster, more effective and more equitable response to future pandemics.
The organization announced that an eighth round of negotiations will take place on September 14.
Despite the limited progress, delegates succeeded in streamlining the draft text and concentrating discussions on several technical issues.
According to the WHO, negotiators focused on the contractual arrangements underpinning the PABS mechanism, the laboratory networks responsible for handling and sharing pathogens and their genetic sequence data, as well as the framework for distributing the benefits generated through the sharing of those pathogens.
The PABS system is considered one of the most important elements of the future pandemic agreement, as it aims to ensure timely access to pathogens for scientific research while establishing fair mechanisms for sharing the benefits derived from vaccines, diagnostics and other medical countermeasures developed during future global health emergencies.
International
Iran Says It Is in “Full-Scale War” as U.S. Launches Ninth Consecutive Night of Airstrikes
Iran declared on Monday that it is facing a “full-scale war” against the United States after Washington carried out another wave of overnight airstrikes, including attacks near a city that hosts one of the country’s nuclear facilities.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the country must prepare for the consequences of the ongoing conflict, describing the situation as a broad military confrontation.
“The reality is that today the Islamic Republic of Iran is engaged in a full-scale war,” Pezeshkian said in a statement released by the presidency. “We must be realistic and accept the natural consequences of this resistance.”
The latest U.S. strikes marked the ninth consecutive night of military operations, according to the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which announced the attacks on X.
Since hostilities resumed on July 7, U.S. air operations have expanded well beyond southern Iran, reaching central and northwestern regions of the country, according to local sources.
Local authorities reported that one person was killed and several others injured in Tabriz, in northwestern Iran, more than 1,000 kilometers from the Persian Gulf.
Additional casualties were reported in the nearby city of Urmia, where several people were wounded during separate strikes.
Washington said the attacks targeted military installations. However, Iranian officials accused the United States of striking populated areas, including Bushehr, home to Iran’s only operational nuclear power plant.
Iran also reported that the Darkhovin nuclear facility, which is still under construction, was among the sites hit during the latest attacks.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the renewed military campaign was carried out in honor of American service members killed in recent days.
Two U.S. soldiers died on Friday during attacks on a military base in Jordan, while another service member was killed on Sunday during the controlled disposal of unexploded munitions from an Iranian drone in northern Iraq.
According to U.S. figures, 17 American troops have been killed since the conflict began on February 28.
On the Iranian side, the latest official figures released on Friday reported 50 deaths and more than 500 injuries since fighting resumed earlier this month.
A memorandum of understanding signed by Iran and the United States on June 17, which had been intended to pave the way for peace negotiations, collapsed after hostilities resumed over the strategic control of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy shipping routes.
French Parliament Moves to Approve Social Media Age Limit for Minors
WHO to Hold New Round of Talks After Slow Progress on Pandemic Accord
Iran Says It Is in “Full-Scale War” as U.S. Launches Ninth Consecutive Night of Airstrikes
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