An Ecuadorian court sentenced five defendants accused of murdering former presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio to prison terms between 12 and 34 years.

Carlos Angulo, alias “Invisible,” one of the leaders of the drug trafficking gang “Los Lobos,” and Laura Castillo were sentenced to the maximum penalty of 34 years and eight months in prison for orchestrating the murder, reported Xinhua news agency.

Another two men and a woman were sentenced to 12 years in prison as accomplices.

The court also demands full reparation for the suffering of Villavicencio’s family.

Villavicencio, a 59-year-old politician and journalist, was killed in an armed attack after a political rally in the city of Quito on Aug. 9, 2023. He was campaigning in early elections after then-President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the National Assembly amid a political crisis. AGENCIES

 Gitanas Nauseda was inaugurated as President of Lithuania for a second term, according to a statement from Lithuania’s Presidential Palace.

The inaugural ceremony started at noon on Friday with a ceremonial event in the Lithuanian Parliament, the Seimas, where Nauseda took the presidential oath with his hand on the Constitution, Xinhua news agency reported.

At the inauguration, Nauseda said that Lithuania’s defence budget should reach four per cent of GDP, which would allow Lithuania to develop long-range air defence, a missile shield to protect the Baltic Sea coast, and fortifications to protect land borders.

On domestic policy, Nauseda promised to further reduce social exclusion, create a more family- and senior-friendly environment, as well as focus on regions, culture, and education.

After the oath-taking ceremony at the Seimas, the President attended a Holy Mass at Vilnius Cathedral and saluted a formation of colour guards, squads, and commanders in Cathedral Square.

The Lithuanian government has returned its powers to the President, who will instruct the Cabinet to continue its work as a caretaker government until the Seimas votes again on Ingrida Simonyte’s nomination to continue as Prime Minister.

Nauseda, a 60-year-old economist, was re-elected president in May after defeating his rival Simonyte in the second round of presidential elections. AGENCIES

 India has pledged to continue supporting the embattled UN agency helping Palestinians which is facing a financial crisis even as its needs have risen because of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

R. Ravindra, the charge d’affaires of India’s UN mission, said that the nation will continue its annual contributions of $5 million to the agency and will release half the amount in the coming days.

He was speaking at a pledging conference to help the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) which provides humanitarian assistance to Palestinians and is facing a shortfall in budget after its biggest contributor, the United States, and some other countries suspended payments amid allegations of that its staff were involved in terrorism.

Washington contributes about $340 million to UNRWA’s $1.6 billion budget but the US Congress has passed a legislative measure to stop aid to the agency till at least next year.

General Assembly President, Dennis Francis said, “Considering the essential services delivered by the agency and its staff, it should deeply alarm us all that UNRWA is currently standing on the precipice of financial collapse.”

In his pitch for donations to make up for the shortfall, he referred to Commissioner-General Lazzarini’s warning that the budget deficit could force it to end operations this year.

UNRWA, the largest UN agency with 30,000 employees, provides a range of services, from food delivery and housing to healthcare and education.

Ravindra said that UNRWA’s “role to assuage the difficult humanitarian situation remains critical, particularly its humanitarian and social services to the Palestinian refugee community living in Palestine, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon.”

Beyond UNRWA, he said, India has been a “trusted development partner” for the people of Palestine.

“Our developmental assistance to Palestine in various forms over the years amounts to close to $120 million, including $35 million as contribution to UNRWA”, he said.

In addition, New Delhi is giving scholarships to 50 Palestinian students to pursue undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral studies in India and is donating medicines requested by UNRWA.

“There is also a request from Palestinian Authority for life-saving medicines, which we are actively considering”, he added.

Ravindra prefaced the aid commitment to UNRWA with a strong condemnation of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel which is at the root of the UNRWA crisis and the humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

“The barbaric terrorist attack on 7th October last year deserves our unequivocal condemnation and we demand unconditional release of all hostages”, he said referring to the hostages taken by Hamas and other groups during the attack which killed about 1,200 people in Israel.

At the same time, he said, “India has taken a principled position on the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza and strongly condemned the death of civilians, especially women and children.”

In the Israeli retribution, about 30,000 people, most of them women and children, have been killed in the ground and air attack on Gaza.

“We have also been emphasising respect for international law and international humanitarian law under all circumstances”, he said.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the agency “the backbone of humanitarian operations in Gaza” and “there is no alternative to UNRWA.”

He said that 195 staffers have been killed in the current crisis – “the highest staff death toll in UN history” – and UNRWA is being targeted in many other ways.

“Staff have been the subject of increasingly violent protests and virulent misinformation and disinformation campaigns”, he said, and “some have been detained by Israeli security forces, and subsequently reported mistreatment and even torture”.

“Can you imagine how our colleagues wake up day after day in a living nightmare and still deliver for Palestinians in desperate need? Because I cannot”, he said.

Regarding the criticism of UNRWA, he referred to a report by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna on the controversies surrounding the agency

“We are working on all fronts to implement the recommendations of the Catherine Colonna Report, by strengthening UNRWA’s work and risk management mechanisms”, he said.

Her report found that investigations into allegations against UNRWA and its staff had been inadequate.

It said that the agency’s facilities had at times been used for “political or military purposes”, some UNRWA staff had failed to remain neutral and expressed controversial political views, and some school texbooks had “problematic content.”

The decisions by the US and other countries to stop funding UNRWA was prompted by Israel’s allegations that 12 UNRWA employees had participated in the October 7 terrorist attack.

The UN promptly fired the employees and launched an investigation that is still in progress.

Meanwhile, a Bill to designate UNRWA as a terrorist organisation is wending its way through Knesset, the Israeli parliament, and got through a preliminary vote.

AGENCIES

Sri Lanka’s State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tharaka Balasuriya, who represented the island nation in the two-day 2nd BIMSTEC Ministerial Retreat hosted by India, has emphasised the need to have a mechanism to map mineral resources found in abundance within the countries of the Bay of Bengal region. 

The Retreat, which ended on Friday and was attended by the Foreign Ministers of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) grouping nations, provided an informal platform to discuss ways and means of cooperating and accelerating action in security, connectivity, trade and investment within the Bay of Bengal.

“He (Balasuriya) further emphasised the importance of developing opportunities for the vertical integration of stages of production within specific sectors in the economies of the countries, enabling countries to diversify their production structure,” the Lankan Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

He also referred to the initiative of Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry at the First BIMSTEC Retreat for the creation of an expert group on fiscal and monetary policy, and observed it would create a platform for the sharing of best practices within the region.

Along with India, Sri Lanka is a founding member of the seven-member BIMSTEC grouping which was established in June 1997.

The proposals put forward in the New Delhi meeting are expected to be submitted for consideration to the Heads of State at the upcoming 6th BIMSTEC Summit scheduled to be hosted by Thailand, the current chair of BIMSTEC, on September 4, later this year.

During his visit, Balasuriya also held a meeting with External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar and paid a joint courtesy call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. AGENCIES

 North Korea, officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), “most strongly denounces and rejects” the Washington summit declaration issued by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) earlier this week, state media said Saturday.

The declaration is proof that the United States and the transatlantic bloc pose “the most serious threat to the global peace and security,” the official Korean Central News Agency said, citing a press statement released by a spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry on Friday, reported Xinhua news agency.

It is “an illegal document that violates the legitimate rights of independent sovereign states and a confrontational programme that incites new Cold War and military confrontation on a global scale,” the statement added.

The US moves to expand military blocs seriously threaten regional peace, extremely exacerbate the international security environment, and spark a worldwide arms race, it said.

The DPRK warned that NATO’s “globalisation” strategy pursued by the United States brings “the danger of a worldwide war.”

The DPRK also lambasted Washington for “seriously infringing upon the sovereignty and security interests of other countries and constantly destroying the strategic stability of the world while wantonly violating the recognised principles of international law including respect for sovereignty, non-interference, equality and mutual benefit,” the report said. AGENCIES

 There are still outstanding points that hinder the Gaza truce negotiations, the media reported, citing a top source.

The news did not specify what those outstanding points are, but Hamas on Friday accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of obstructing reaching the ceasefire agreement by insisting on his country’s control of the Philadelphi Corridor, the area between Gaza and Egypt, Xinhua news agency reported.

Netanyahu emphasised on Thursday that to prevent “the smuggling of weapons” to Hamas from Egypt, Israel must control the Philadelphi Corridor, as well as the Rafah crossing.

The crossing was an important entry point for aid from Egypt into Gaza before it was closed in early May after Israeli troops assumed control over its Palestinian side.

Meanwhile, the source denied reports about Egyptian-Israeli security arrangements regarding the control of the border between Egypt and Gaza, saying these are Israeli “rumours” aiming to “hide their failures in Gaza”.

Egypt has repeatedly denied any coordination with the Israeli side concerning the border with Gaza while rejecting multiple Israeli suggestions to co-manage the crossing, a top source said in previous remarks to Al-Qahera News TV.

Egypt has also stressed that only the Egyptians and Palestinians have the right to manage the crossing, demanding the withdrawal of the Israeli troops from the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing.

For months, mediators from Egypt and Qatar have been trying to broker an agreement to end the conflict in Gaza that has been going on for over nine months, and to return the more than 100 Israeli hostages still being held there.

Israel has been conducting a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on October 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were taken hostage.

According to Gaza health authorities, the Israeli offensive has led to the killing of more than 38,000 Palestinians in the enclave, while the UN estimates that nearly two million people there have been internally displaced. AGENCIES

 The provincial government of South Africa’s Western Cape has said that a total of 100,000 people have so far been affected and 33,000 buildings have been damaged in the city of Cape Town by heavy rains that hit the province recently.

“Authorities remain on high alert as cold and wet weather persists. Two further cold fronts are expected to make landfall between Saturday and Sunday,” said Anton Bredell, Western Cape Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs, and Development Planning, at the Joint Operations Centre’s meeting on Friday.

“We have a huge humanitarian situation to deal with, and all authorities are working together to address it. Our focus will remain on keeping people safe until the severe weather has passed,” said Bredell.

“We have approached the National Disaster Management Center for a provincial disaster classification, and expect an announcement soon.”

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said the province desperately needs additional resources to sustain its disaster management operations, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Western Cape Education Department said on Thursday that more than 200 schools across the province have reported some sort of damage or disruption.

The South African Weather Service warned on Friday that they expect 60 to 100 mm of rainfall in the mountainous areas of the province between Saturday and Sunday.

“Our dams and rivers are full, and our catchments are saturated, so any additional rainfall could lead to flooding, mudslides, and rock falls. We repeat our call to the public to stay safe, avoid unnecessary travel and keep informed through reputable news outlets,” the weather service said. AGENCIES

 A young Palestinian man was killed by Israeli army during a raid in the village of Abwein near the West Bank city of Ramallah, said official and local Palestinian sources.

“Our crews transported a 26-year-old man injured in the head in serious condition from the village,” the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said on Friday in a brief statement, without specifying the identity of the victim.

The statement added that the young man died later in the hospital as a result of his injury, Xinhua news agency reported.

Local sources reported that Israeli forces stormed the village, firing live bullets and tear gas bombs, which led to the youth being injured.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on this incident.

More than 550 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in early October 2023, according to UN statistics. AGENCIES

A pilot was killed as a Polish military aircraft crashed in an airshow rehearsal in Gdynia, northern Poland, the media reported.

The crashed plane, the M-346 Master, known as Bielik in the Polish military, is an Italian, two-seat, twin-engine aircraft designed for advanced flight training, Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.

On board the plane was one of the two most experienced pilots of this kind of plane in Poland, according to reports. AGENCIES

 Cyprus’ Amalthea project for the transport of humanitarian aid to Gaza through a sea corridor will not be affected by the impending removal of a floating pier built by the US army, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said.

Commenting on a US statement that the floating pier will soon cease operations, the spokesman told the press on Friday that there are alternative ways of delivering humanitarian aid to the civilian population in Gaza, without providing details.

Letymbiotis said the Amalthea project was planned before the US decided to build a floating pier to facilitate the unloading of aid sent by ship from Larnaca port in Cyprus, Xinhua news agency reported.

The spokesman added that when the pier was removed for repairs, humanitarian aid continued to reach the civilian population in Gaza.

However, international aid to Gaza has been continuously piling up at Larnaca port, including a much-needed medical diagnostic mobile machine sent by Italy, as part of the European Civil Protection Mechanism.

According to local media reports, an alternative way would be to transfer aid to Gaza through the Israeli port of Ashdod, as Israel is involved in the project by checking aid materials before loading.

Another option is to unload aid pallets onto smaller vessels, which could negotiate the shallow waters of Gaza.

Pentagon Spokesperson Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder said on Thursday that the military failed to re-anchor the pier on Wednesday, without mentioning a new date for re-anchoring. AGENCIES