International
The US claims that China has rejected a meeting between its Defense chiefs in Laos
The US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, said that Beijing has rejected a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Minister Dong Jun, in Laos, where both participate this Thursday in a Southeast Asian security ministerial meeting with their partners.
“I’m sorry that China has chosen not to see each other here. The decision of the People’s Republic of China is a step backwards for the entire region,” Austin told media from Laos, according to a Pentagon statement on Wednesday.
US and China in ASEAN
Austin and Dong participate today in Vientian in the meeting of the defense ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with their partners (Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the United States).
Although it was expected that the heads of Defense of the world’s major powers could be seen on the margins of the meeting, Austin considered it “unfortunate” that China has declined the face, without the American going into explaining the reasons.
“You have to be in touch to get an explanation of your decision. It’s unfortunate. It affects the entire region because they really want to see two powerful people talking to each other, which would send a message of tranquility,” Austin added.
China, for its part, has not yet commented on this issue.
Taiwan in the focus of the matter
According to CNN, Beijing would have rejected the meeting between Dong and Austin due to the sale of weapons in October from Washington to Taiwan, a self-governing island that China does not rule out invading and to which the United States provides ammunition and in principle would defend.
Dong and Austin had met for the first time at a security forum in Singapore in June, which formalized the restoration of high-level contact between the two powers, cut after the former speaker of the US House of Representatives. Nancy Pelosi will visit Taiwan in August 2022.
Tensions did not ease until Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met in San Francisco in November 2023.
Austin ruled out that the lack of a meeting this time will have “any kind of implication in the future,” amid uncertainty in the region in the face of the imminent change of administration in the United States and the turn in Defense that it may mean.
“I just think it’s something they’ve chosen to do right now and only they can explain why they’ve chosen not to take advantage of a good opportunity,” he said.
The ministers of ASEAN (made up of Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam) conclude today with their partners their annual two-day summit in Vientian, with several hot spots in the region, including Burma and the South China Sea, and amid a war escalation in Ukraine, Gaza and Lebanon.
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.
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