International
The formation of a government with Wilders’ radical right in the Netherlands is successfully completed
Geert Wilders’ radical right successfully completed on Monday the formation of a government in the Netherlands, in coalition with three other right-wing parties, which will have as prime minister Dick Schoof, an expert official in security and asylum, at the head of a team of ministers with political experience.
According to the report presented on Monday to Parliament, the future government will have 15 ministers and, despite the initial promise that half will be technocrats, finally all the members of the cabinet come from politics: five from the radical right of the PVV, four from the liberals of the VVD, four from the Christian Democrat NSC and two from the BBB peasant party.
The new Dutch cabinet, which will not include Geert Wilders or any of the leaders of the other three parties, will devote the next two months to detailing the government program, after taking office on Tuesday, which puts an end to almost 14 years of legislatures of the liberal Mark Rutte, who says goodbye to the policy to take over the general secretariat of NATO in October.
The report, presented by mediator Richard van Zwol, points out that the program of the future government “will be presented to the States General in time for Budget Day,” on Tuesday, September 17, and also “will be dedicated to the legislative quality and the viability of the political and legislative proposals” that the initial pact includes in general lines.
The document, which does not offer much information on how the government pact will be applied, emphasizes that the planned cuts in government employees will be made in a “responsible and achievable way” and “special attention will be paid to the importance of an adequate supervision function (inspections) and an adequate network of missions abroad.”
The four parties have included in their agreement a 22% reduction in the public service, which alarmed many ministries, such as Foreign Affairs, which fear the closure of embassies.
Early in the morning, the new team of ministers formally met for the first time in what is called a “constitutive meeting,” under the leadership of Schoof and Van Zwol.
The far-right deputy Fleur Agema (PVV) stressed that she was “very proud” of being the future deputy prime minister and Minister of Public Health of the “most right-wing” cabinet in Dutch history, although “with a warm social heart,” she said. “I’ll take care of that,” he promised.
His PVV colleague, Marjolein Faber, who will be in charge of the new Ministry of Migration and Asylum, spoke of “a historic day” for the Netherlands and stressed that he does not want to “look back, only forward,” when asked about his defense of “ethnic substitution”, the conspiracy theory of the Great Replacement, which believes that immigrants are “repopuling” the West.
Both Faber and the far-right deputy Reinette Klever, who will be Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, were heavily criticized for having used racist claims and known terminology of National Socialism in the past. “I’m not going to say anything else about that,” Klever said today.
In parliamentary hearings in recent weeks, Faber distanced himself from the term “ethnic substitution,” and Klever described it as “a factual description of a demographic development.”
Van Zwol will meet today with King William Alexander of the Netherlands and introduce him to Schoof, before the inauguration this Tuesday.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
International
Seven inmates dead, 11 injured after violent riot in Veracruz prison
Seven inmates were killed and eleven others injured in a violent riot and clash inside a penitentiary in the Mexican state of Veracruz, local authorities reported on Sunday.
The disturbance began on Saturday afternoon at the Social Reintegration Center in the port city of Tuxpan, in northern Veracruz, when inmates staged a protest over extortion and assaults allegedly carried out by members of the criminal group known as Grupo Sombra.
The protesting prisoners clashed with another group of inmates and set fires inside and outside the facility, seizing control of the prison for more than 12 hours.
During the takeover, the rioters released several videos, including one showing four prisoners —believed to be members of Grupo Sombra— accusing them of being behind the violence and extortion inside the prison.
It wasn’t until Sunday morning that elements of the Mexican Army, the National Guard, and local police forces managed to enter the prison and regain control. The state’s Public Security Secretariat confirmed that around 9:00 a.m. local time a coordinated operation restored full order and reestablished control of the facility.
Authorities also reported that the fires set by inmates were fully extinguished.
Official figures confirmed the “tragic” deaths of seven inmates and injuries to eleven people, who are now receiving medical treatment in various regional hospitals.
This is the second deadliest riot in Veracruz in the past eight years. In 2018, a violent uprising at the La Toma medium-security prison left seven people dead (six police officers and one unidentified man) and at least 22 injured (15 officers and seven inmates).
The riot follows the kidnapping and killing of retired teacher and taxi driver Irma Hernández, a case that shocked the entire country and was attributed to Grupo Sombra. Images of Hernández kneeling, surrounded by armed men in the municipality of Álamo, sparked nationwide outrage. She was murdered after refusing to pay extortion demands from the criminal organization.
Despite these incidents, Veracruz has not seen a spike in the daily homicide average. In fact, there has been a 1.6% decrease in homicides in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, according to the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System.
In 2023, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) reported 3,094 incidents in Mexican prisons —an 18.5% increase from the previous year— resulting in 100 deaths and 892 injuries.
International
Study finds COVID-19 vaccines prevented 2.5 million deaths worldwide
COVID-19 vaccines prevented an estimated 2,533,000 deaths worldwide between 2020 and 2024, according to an international study led by Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Italy and Stanford University in the United States, published in the journal JAMA Health Forum. Researchers calculated that one death was prevented for every 5,400 doses administered.
The analysis also found that the vaccines saved 14.8 million years of life, equivalent to one year of life gained for every 900 doses given.
The study, coordinated by Professor Stefania Boccia, revealed that 82% of the lives saved were people vaccinated before becoming infected with the virus, and 57% of deaths avoided occurred during the Omicron wave. In addition, 90% of the beneficiaries were adults over 60 years old.
“This is the most comprehensive analysis to date, based on global data and fewer assumptions about the evolution of the pandemic,” explained Boccia and researcher Angelo Maria Pezzullo.
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
Seven inmates dead, 11 injured after violent riot in Veracruz prison
Study finds COVID-19 vaccines prevented 2.5 million deaths worldwide
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