International

Colombia to allow assisted medical suicide: court

AFP

Colombia on Thursday became the first Latin American country to authorize assisted medical suicide for patients under a doctor’s supervision, according to a constitutional court decision.

The country’s highest court ruled that a doctor can help a seriously ill patient take their own life by consuming a lethal drug, without risking going to jail.

Colombia already allows euthanasia — where a doctor is the one to administer a life-ending drug to a patient.

“The doctor who helps someone with intense suffering or serious illness and who freely decides to dispose of their own life, acts within the constitutional framework,” read Thursday’s court ruling that passed by six votes to three.

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Colombia decriminalized euthanasia in 1997, and in July 2021 a high court expanded this “right to dignified death” to those not suffering from a terminal illness.

Fewer than 200 people have opted for euthanasia in Colombia since 1997, according to official data.

It is the first and only Latin American country to have taken this step and one of just a few in the world, and did so despite being mostly Roman Catholic.

The church categorically opposes both euthanasia and assisted suicide.

– ‘Intense’ suffering –

According to the Right to Die with Dignity foundation (DMD), the difference between euthanasia and assisted suicide “is basically who administers the drug.”

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“In the case of euthanasia, it is health personnel who administer the medicine that causes death and in the case of assisted suicide it is the patient who self-administers the medicine that another person has provided,” it explained.

Despite its decriminalization of euthanasia, a doctor still risked jail time of 12 to 36 months for assisting a person end their own life.

Thursday’s court ruling said assisted suicide would be allowed only for people dealing with “intense physical or mental suffering arising from bodily injury or serious and incurable illness.”

A doctor acting outside of this framework could still go to jail for up to nine years.

According to the World Federation of Right to Die Societies, “aid in dying” is allowed in some form or another in the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Austria, some states in Australia and some in the United States.

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Elsewhere in Latin America, Chile’s lower house of Parliament approved a bill last year that would allow euthanasia for adults. It still requires approval by the Senate.

And a court in Peru last April ordered the government to respect the wishes of a polio-stricken woman to be allowed to die, a rare allowance for euthanasia in that country.

International

Macron meets Machado, stresses need for democratic transition in Venezuela

Emmanuel Macron met on Monday at the Élysée Palace with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, where they discussed the importance of advancing a democratic transition in Venezuela.

In a message shared on social media, Macron highlighted Machado’s commitment to freedom and stressed the need to achieve a transition that is peaceful and respects the will of the Venezuelan people.

“I received María Corina Machado, Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Together, we discussed her commitment to freedom and the importance of achieving a democratic, peaceful transition in Venezuela that respects the will of its people,” he wrote.

For her part, Machado expressed her “deep gratitude” to Macron and to France for their support of democracy and freedom in Venezuela.

“We have gone through a long and painful journey, and we are now very close to freedom. Venezuela will become a nation of free and equal men and women—prosperous, safe, and united,” she said.

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International

Trump says Iran seeks new talks after failed negotiations in Pakistan

Donald Trump said on Monday that Iran has reached out to United States to resume negotiations, following the collapse of recent talks held in Islamabad.

“We’ve been contacted by the other side,” Trump told reporters, adding that Iran is eager to reach a deal “at all costs.” Speaking from the Oval Office, he reiterated that his main objective is to prevent the Islamic Republic from acquiring nuclear weapons and warned that he will not allow Iran to “blackmail” the international community.

After negotiations between Washington and Tehran ended without agreement on Sunday, Trump announced that the U.S. would move to block the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for global oil trade.

The waterway had already been disrupted by Iran in response to a U.S. and Israeli offensive launched on February 28, causing significant shocks to the global economy.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump further warned that any Iranian vessel attempting to bypass the U.S. naval blockade in the strait would be “eliminated immediately.”

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The renewed tensions have pushed oil prices higher, while global stock markets have reacted negatively to the lack of an agreement in Islamabad.

International

Trump orders U.S. control of Strait of Hormuz after failed Iran talks

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that the United States will take control of the Strait of Hormuz“effective immediately,” following the collapse of negotiations with Iran held in Islamabad.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he had ordered the U.S. Navy to block vessels attempting to enter or exit the strategic waterway, a key route for global energy trade.

“The meeting went well, agreement was reached on most points, but the only really important one — nuclear weapons — was not approved,” Trump said, referring to the talks with Iranian representatives.

The president also stated that he had instructed authorities to intercept ships in international waters that had paid tolls to Iran to transit the strait, calling such payments “illegal.” He further accused Tehran of hindering an agreement by deploying mines in the area, describing the move as “international extortion.”

Trump added that the United States will undertake efforts to clear mines from the strait and expressed confidence that a future agreement ensuring free navigation could eventually be reached.

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The announcement came after Vice President JD Vance and special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner briefed the president on the outcome of the negotiations, considered the highest-level contacts between the two countries since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

While Trump acknowledged that enough progress had been made to maintain a temporary truce, he criticized Iran for remaining unwilling to abandon its nuclear ambitions, calling its position “very inflexible” on the central issue.