International
Biden: “Our commitment to Israel’s security is armored”
The President of the United States, Joe Biden, said on Wednesday that his country’s commitment to Israel’s security in the face of Iran’s threats “is armored.”
“As I have told Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel’s security against the threats of Iran and its allied groups is armored,” Biden said during a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
“I say it again: armored. We are going to do everything we can to protect Israel’s security,” he added, referring to the threats made by Iran after Israel bombed its embassy in Damascus.
Biden and Kishida spoke at a meeting about the security of Israel but also about the war in the Gaza Strip, where both support the proposal for a truce that will alleviate the humanitarian crisis and the release of hostages from Hamas.
In addition, the US president again referred to the possibility of the United States changing its position regarding that conflict, just as Biden warned Netanyahu that it could happen if Israel continued with its current strategy.
“We will see what (Netanyahu) does in terms of fulfilling the commitments he made with me,” Biden said.
For his part, moments earlier, former US president and Republican pre-candidate Donald Trump (2017-2021) affirmed that Joe Biden has “totally” lost control of the Israeli situation.
“He has abandoned Israel, he has totally abandoned Israel,” he told the press upon his arrival in Atlanta (Georgia), where he is planning a fundraising act.
Trump considered that Biden “has no idea where he is or who he supports,” he considered that he is a person “with little intellectual capacity” and maintained that “any Jew who votes for a Democrat or votes for Biden should have his head examined.”
This same Wednesday, in the White House, Biden said that he is still negotiating a possible ceasefire between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas.
The day before, in an interview with Univision, the US president criticized the way of acting of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in Gaza in response to the attacks in Hamas on October 7, which has led to the occupation by force of almost the entire enclave, the destruction of homes and the death of more than 33,400 civilians.
“I think what you’re doing is a mistake. I don’t agree with his way of doing things,” he told the Latin American media.
Biden said in that intervention that what he requested “simply” is a ceasefire, that the Israelis allow access for the next six or eight weeks of food and medicine.
International
Trump to build $200M ballroom at the White House by 2028
The U.S. government under President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that it will begin construction in September on a new 8,000-square-meter ballroom at the White House.
The announcement was made by Karoline Leavitt, the administration’s press secretary, during a briefing in which she explained that the expansion responds to the need for a larger venue to host “major events.”
“Other presidents have long wished for a space capable of accommodating large gatherings within the White House complex… President Trump has committed to solving this issue,” Leavitt told reporters.
The project is estimated to cost $200 million, fully funded through donations from Trump himself and other “patriots,” according to a government statement. Construction is scheduled to begin in September and is expected to be completed before Trump’s term ends in 2028.
The Clark Construction Group, a Virginia-based company known for projects such as the Capital One Arena and L’Enfant Plaza in Washington, D.C., has been selected to lead the project.
The new ballroom will be built on the East Wing of the White House, expanding the iconic residence with a space designed for state dinners, official ceremonies, and large-scale events.
International
Three salvadorans in Florida sentenced in $146 million construction tax fraud scheme
Three Salvadoran residents living in Orlando, Florida, were sentenced for conspiracy to commit tax fraud and wire fraud involving a scheme exceeding $146 million in the construction industry, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida. The sentence was handed down by federal judge Timothy J. Corrigan on Tuesday, July 29.
Eduardo Aníbal Escobar (45) was sentenced to 4 years and 9 months in prison, Carlos Alberto Rodríguez (36) to 3 years and 4 months, and Adelmy Tejada (57) to 18 months in prison, followed by 6 months of house arrest. All three pled guilty on April 3, 2025.
In addition to the prison terms, the court ordered restitution payments totaling $36,957,616 to the IRS for unpaid payroll taxes, and $397,895 to two insurers for workers’ compensation claims related to the scheme.
Escobar and Rodríguez are permanent legal residents originally from El Salvador, while Tejada is a naturalized U.S. citizen of Salvadoran origin.
International
Kremlin hails preparedness after Kamchatka quakes leave no casualties
The Kremlin expressed relief that the earthquakes that struck Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula today —the first being the strongest since 1952— resulted in no casualties, and emphasized that the region is well prepared to face such natural disasters.
“Thank God, there were no victims,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov during his daily press briefing.
The presidential representative stated that “all alert systems were activated in time, and evacuations were organized for residents in areas requiring it in response to tsunami threats.”
“Overall, the seismic resilience of the buildings proved effective (…) Therefore, we can say that the technological preparedness demonstrated a high level,” Peskov added.
Honduras sees ongoing killings of land defenders and attacks on press, warns NGO
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Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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