Soldiers patrol the perimeter of a prison in Ecuador. PHOTO: AFP
QUITO (AFP) – An attack using explosives at the construction site of a maximum security prison in southwestern Ecuador killed one person, the government said, calling it a “terrorist act”.
“In the early morning of this December 25, 2024, a group of armed men perpetrated a terrorist act by violently entering the construction site of the new Santa Elena prison, where they detonated explosive devices,” the presidency said in a statement.
The statement said one person had been killed, with the attorney general’s office identifying the man as a worker at the site.
Another worker was wounded, officials said.
Ecuador President Daniel Noboa’s government began the construction of the prison in the rural town of Juntas del Pacifico in June.
It will have a capacity of 800 prisoners, and is being built at a cost of USD52 million.
The new prison will be one of two penitentiaries that the government plans to build as part of its plan to separate the most dangerous inmates from others, and to combat organised crime.
The presidency condemned the “terrorist attack” which it attributed to “organised crime groups” that “seek to sow terror, weaken the state and halt the government’s commitment to restore peace and security.”
The construction of the prison has sparked protests from local inhabitants, who reject the project and say that it affects the biodiversity of the area.
A week ago, the government reversed its plan to build a second prison in the Amazonian town of Archidona, after two weeks of protests that included road closures.
That prison will now be built in the coastal town of Salinas, also in Santa Elena province.
Organised crime violence has transformed Ecuador, a country of 17 million, into one of the most violent nations in the world in recent years.
Soldiers patrol the perimeter of a prison in Ecuador. PHOTO: AFP
AP – A man accused of attempting to assassinate United States (US) President-elect Donald Trump in South Florida won’t be tried until September 2025, a federal judge ruled this week.
Ryan Routh’s trial will begin on September 8 instead of the previously scheduled February 10, 2025 start date, US District Judge Aileen Cannon said in an order released.
Routh, 58, a Hawaii resident, has pleaded not guilty.
Routh’s attorneys had asked the judge to delay the trial until no earlier than next December, saying they needed more time to review the evidence against him and decide whether to mount an insanity defence.
Routh owned 17 mobile phones and numerous other electronic devices, and there are hundreds of hours of police body camera and surveillance videos that have been provided to the defence, Routh’s attorneys argued during a hearing two weeks ago in Fort Pierce, Florida.
In her order, Cannon said she wanted to err on the side of providing more time given the seriousness of the allegations, but that starting the trial no earlier than December would be an excessive amount. A September trial date didn’t amount to an “unreasonable delay”, she said.
The judge said that any insanity defence or any request related to Routh’s mental competency must be made by early February. Any visit to the scene of the assassination attempt must be made by the end of February.
National Guard troops patrol a street in Mexico. PHOTO: AFP
MEXICO CITY (AFP) – More than 400,000 pills containing the deadly opioid fentanyl were seized and destroyed by Mexico’s Attorney General’s office, along with six tons of chemical precursors for the drugs, the agency said.
A statement said the narcotics were seized in multiple operations in the western Mexico state of Jalisco, where the powerful New Generation cartel operates.
The agency seized “416,751 tablets and 6.9 kilogrammes of fentanyl, 990 acetaminophen tablets” and more than six tonnes of twenty different chemical precursors, all of which were destroyed.
Mexico has ramped up its operations against the trafficking of synthetic narcotics, especially fentanyl, with United States (US) President-elect Donald Trump ramping up pressure on the issue.
The Republican, who will begin his second term on January 20, has threatened to levy 25-per-cent tariffs on Mexican exports if the country fails to contain drug trafficking and the influx of illegal immigrants to the US. Earlier in December, the Mexican government announced the seizure of over one million fentanyl pills, described as “the largest seizure of fentanyl in history” by Mexican Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin, has been linked to tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the US.
Mexico is one of the main trafficking routes for the drug and for the chemicals to manufacture it.
Trump has also threatened tariff hikes on Canada over illegal migration and their alleged role in the US opioid crisis.
National Guard troops patrol a street in Mexico. PHOTO: AFP
File photo of United Airlines planes at Newark International Airport in New Jersey, United States. PHOTO: AFP
KAHULUI (AP) – Maui police are investigating the discovery of a dead body in the wheel well of a United Airlines plane after it landed in Maui in the United States (US) the airline and police department said in statements on Wednesday.
The body was found in the wheel well of one of the main landing gears on flight 202, which arrived at Kahului Airport from Chicago on Tuesday, United said in an e-mailed statement.
The airline said the wheel well of the Boeing 787-10 was only accessible from the outside of the aircraft, and that it was unclear how or when the person accessed it.
In an e-mailed statement, the Maui Police Department said it was “actively investigating” the discovery of the dead body.
Neither United nor the Maui Police Department shared further information.
The Associated Press called Kahului Airport on Wednesday and was directed to a public affairs officer for the state department of transportation.
A spokesperson for the department said in an e-mail that it had no additional details beyond what United had confirmed.
File photo of United Airlines planes at Newark International Airport in New Jersey, United States. PHOTO: AFP
File photo of migrants rescued by French authorities in Dunkirk in northern France. PHOTO: AFP
LILLE (AFP) – French authorities said they rescued 107 migrants trying to cross the Channel from France to England on Wednesday.
Over the course of the holidays, 12 rescue operations were staged along the coast of northern France, including of a boat experiencing engine trouble, France’s Channel and North Sea maritime prefecture said in a statement.
In the morning, 30 passengers were rescued from a boat near Dunkirk, while the others onboard wished to continue onwards and were taken into British custody once they reached British waters, the maritime authorities said.
Another boat experiencing engine damage was spotted later in the day, also near Dunkirk, and all 51 passengers were rescued.
Later, 26 people were taken off a boat experiencing difficulty near Calais.
The English Channel is “a particularly dangerous area, especially at the height of winter for precarious and overloaded boats”, the statement said.
At least 73 migrants have died trying to cross the Channel to Britain this year, according to the Pas-de-Calais authorities, making 2024 the deadliest year on record for the crossings.
Tens of thousands more have reached Britain, where the government has vowed to crack down on people-smuggling gangs.
In November, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for greater international cooperation against the gangs, which he described as a “global security threat similar to terrorism”.
File photo of migrants rescued by French authorities in Dunkirk in northern France. PHOTO: AFP
BELGRADE (AP) – Serbia’s striking university students rallied outside the chief prosecutor’s office to demand justice over a concrete canopy collapse that killed 15 people last month in the country’s north.
More than 1,000 students symbolically left letters on the doorstep of the public prosecutor’s office, telling chief prosecutor Zagorka Dolovac that “students expect you to fight for law and justice, without political abuse or corruption”.
Dolovac’s office later responded with a statement inviting a student delegation to a meeting. Serbia’s universities have been blockaded for weeks as part of a wider movement demanding accountability over the November 1 tragedy in Novi Sad when a huge concrete construction at the railway station crashed onto the people below.
Many in Serbia blame the collapse on widespread corruption and sloppy work on the building renovation. Prosecutors have arrested 13 people over the Novi Sad tragedy, including a government minister whose release later fuelled public scepticism about the honesty of the investigation.
Striking students have received wide support in Serbia from their professors, farmers, actors and others. Tens of thousands joined a student-led protest in Belgrade on Sunday that also reflected wider discontent with populist President Aleksandar Vucic’s rule.
Protesting students on Wednesday carried banners featuring red handprints – a protest symbol telling the authorities they have “blood on their hands”.
Britain’s King Charles III walks with the British royal family in Norfolk, England. PHOTO: AP
LONDON (AP) – King Charles III used his annual holiday message on Wednesday to hail the selflessness of those who have cared for him and the Princess of Wales this year, after both were diagnosed with cancer.
The 76-year-old monarch said he and his family are “continually” impressed by those who dedicate their lives to helping others.
“From a personal point of view, I offer special, heartfelt thanks to the selfless doctors and nurses who this year have supported me and other members of my family through the uncertainties and anxieties of illness and have helped provide the strength, care and comfort we have needed,” he said in a pre-recorded speech.
The broadcast came several hours after the monarch waved to a large crowd of onlookers who traditionally gather to see the royal family attend services at Sandringham, the estate on the windswept North Sea coast that has served as a family retreat for generations.
The king walked with Queen Camilla as his eldest son, Prince William, Kate and their three children followed.
The king’s daughter-in-law, who has slowly returned to public duties after completing chemotherapy, hugged a cancer patient after the service.
Two of Charles’ siblings, Anne, the Princess Royal, and Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, were also in the procession.
Notably absent at during the service was the king’s 64-year-old brother, Prince Andrew, who was once second in line to the British throne, has become a constant source of tabloid fodder because of his money woes and links to questionable characters, including the late American financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Even after stepping back from public duties, Andrew has continued to appear at family events and his absence from Sandringham suggests a further retreat from the public eye.
The king has been under pressure to distance Andrew from the royal family to avoid further embarrassment to the monarchy.
Britain’s King Charles III walks with the British royal family in Norfolk, England. PHOTO: AP
A woman reacts during the funeral of five Palestinian journalists killed by an Israeli airstrike. PHOTO: AP
DEIR AL-BALAH (AP) – An Israeli strike killed five Palestinian journalists outside a hospital in the Gaza Strip overnight, the Health Ministry said early yesterday.
The strike hit a car outside the Al-Awda Hospital in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in the central part of the territory. The journalists were working for the local Quds NewsNetwork. The military said it targeted a group of fighters from Islamic Jihad. Associated Press footage showed the incinerated shell of a van, with press markings on the back doors.
Several young men attended the funeral outside the hospital, many of them sobbing. The bodies were all wrapped in white shrouds, with blue press vests draped over them.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said over 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed since the start of the war. Israel has not allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza except on military embeds.
Israel has banned the pan-Arab Al Jazeera network and accused six of its Gaza reporters of being militants. The Qatar-based broadcaster denies the allegations and accuses Israel of trying to silence its war coverage, which has focused heavily on civilian casualties from Israeli military operations.
A woman reacts during the funeral of five Palestinian journalists killed by an Israeli airstrike. PHOTO: AP
TOKYO (AFP) – Fuelled in part by the success of TV hit Shogun, foreign studios are hungry for quality Japanese content and local creators are adapting to meet demand.
Fans of Japanese manga and anime cartoons have often criticised foreign adaptations that are unfaithful to the original material.
But Shogun, based on the 1975 novel by Australian-British writer James Clavell, broke the mould when the period drama series – mostly in Japanese and hailed for its authenticity – won 18 Emmy awards in September.
Other recent Japanese works have also become worldwide hits.
Franco-United States (US)-Japanese show Drops of God, based on a manga of the same name, won Best Drama Series at the International Emmy Awards in November.
Netflix’s 2023 adaptation of the manga superhit One Piece – starring Mexican actor Inaki Godoy as the lead – was hailed by viewers and critics alike and will return for a second season.
More adaptations of major manga and anime hits are in the works, including the superhero adventures of My Hero Academia and the ninja escapades of Naruto.
Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada. PHOTO: AFPA scene from the series ‘Shogun’. PHOTO: AP
“Demand from Western markets is clearly increasing,” said Managing Director at TIFFCOM Kaori Ikeda, the content trade fair affiliated with the Tokyo International Film Festival.
But Japanese companies lack “know-how” when it comes to things like negotiating rights, she told AFP.
So TIFFCOM has organised Tokyo Story Market, a space to facilitate networking and meetings between international producers and Japanese publishers.
Foreign studios are also getting better at avoiding some of the pitfalls of the past, such as the 2017 film version of the manga Ghost in the Shell starring Scarlett Johansson.
Critics accused the movie, whose main actors except Takeshi Kitano were all non-Japanese, of “whitewashing”.
Similarly, the 2017 supernatural thriller Death Note was panned for veering too far from the original manga. “Manga authors are highly respected and fan communities are very vigilant,” said producer of Drops of God Klaus Zimmermann.
His adaptation takes some liberties, such as starring a French actor as one of the main characters, but Zimmermann insists it was developed in collaboration with the authors of the original manga.
“It was about finding the spirit of the manga so as not to distort it,” he told AFP.
Rights negotiator at the manga’s publishing house Kodansha Yuki Takamatsu, said the process of adapting Drops of God was “amazing”.
“Everyone was open to tackling those challenges together… At every step, everyone was understanding about how we should do it,” he said. Past failures were in part down to publishers struggling to communicate their wishes to foreign producers, who in turn lacked a proper understanding of manga and anime, Takamatsu said.
“Back just 15, 20 years ago, most of the enquiries we received from those big studios were like, hey, I know Dragon Ball, do you have Dragon Ball IP?” Takamatsu told AFP. “But nowadays, especially since COVID, the producers in their 30s, 40s, they watch anime together with their kids on Netflix or Amazon” and then reach out, he said.
Japanese broadcasters have also become “better and better (at) presenting and marketing their content” abroad, said Executive Director at the Broadcast Program Export Association of Japan (BEAJ) Makito Sugiyama.
This includes their participation at global events such as MIPCOM in Cannes, an annual trade show for the television industry, Sugiyama said.
Japanese broadcasters have long had success selling show concepts abroad, like the one for America’s Funniest Home Videos, known in Britain as You’ve Been Framed.
Now, some Japanese dramas are also finding a wider echo abroad.
Nippon TV’s original drama Mother became a hit thanks in part to its Turkish remake, and has been broadcast in around 50 countries.
Western viewers have overcome their initial reluctance to watch series with Asian actors, believes Chief Executive of the BEAJ Masaru Akiyama.
“They have got used to it, they don’t care anymore. They want to see, they want to feel the stories.”
Shogun was “a game changer for Japan”, he added, and Ikeda agreed. “That a samurai story with such attention to historical detail can become mainstream entertainment is proof of the potential” of Japanese content, she said.
AP – The holidays offer many opportunities for awkward moments. Political discussions, of course, hold plenty of potential. But any time opinions differ, where estrangements have caused lingering rifts, or when behaviours veer toward the inappropriate, awkwardness can set in.
Awkwardness is what happens in social interactions when you suddenly find yourself without a script to guide you through. Maybe the situation is new or catches you off guard.
Maybe you don’t know what’s expected of you, or you aren’t sure what role you’re playing in the social drama around you. It’s characterised by feelings of self-consciousness, uncertainty and discomfort.
As a philosopher who studies moral psychology, I’m interested in awkwardness because I wanted to understand the ways social discomfort stops people from engaging with difficult topics and challenging conversations. Awkwardness seems to inhibit people, even when their moral values suggest they should speak up. But it has a positive role to play, too – it can alert people to areas where their social norms are lacking or outdated.
People often blame themselves when things take a turn toward the awkward. But awkwardness is really a collective failure – people aren’t awkward, situations are. And they become awkward because you don’t have the resources to navigate your way through tricky social situations.
Awkwardness is often confused with embarrassment, but the two are different in important ways, and so are their remedies. Embarrassment is a response to a personal failing or gaffe, and the right response is to acknowledge it, own it and move on. Because awkwardness is caused by a lack of social guidance, you can try to anticipate and head it off before it happens, or you can respond to it by trying to develop better or clearer social scripts to help you – and others – navigate similar situations in the future.
After researching and writing an entire book on awkwardness, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not something we can – or should – avoid altogether. But there are a few strategies people can use to minimize awkwardness and deal with it when it does, inevitably, happen.
PHOTO: ENVATOPHOTO: ENVATOPHOTO: ENVATO
1. KNOW YOUR GOALS, KNOW YOUR ROLES
Uncertainty is the oxygen of awkwardness. Before you engage in a potentially awkward or contentious interaction, ask yourself: What do I want to get out of this?
When you’re clear on your goals for the interaction, not only are you better able to perform your role in it, but you’re also giving clearer signals to others, helping them perform their roles in the unfolding social drama. So, if you’re worried it’ll be awkward when your uncle starts in on his annual political rant, think about what you want the outcome to be. Do you want to convince him he’s wrong? Unlikely to happen. Do you want other family members to feel less anxious? Do you want your own views to be heard? I’m not suggesting that some forethought will make things go smoothly or guarantee that no one’s feelings will be hurt. But it will help you feel more confident in your ability to navigate toward your desired outcome.
2. THERE’S NO ‘I’ IN AWKWARD
Awkward situations breed intense self-consciousness. This is both uncomfortable and counterproductive. By focusing on yourself, you’re not attuned to the people around you or the signals they’re sending – signals that could offer you a pathway out of the awkward situation. So make sure you’re paying attention to the other players in the drama, not just your own discomfort.
3. PLAN, COORDINATE AND BE EXPLICIT
People do so much planning in other areas of their lives, yet they expect social interactions to just flow effortlessly. But like a vacation or a hike in the woods, sometimes a conversation goes better when you approach it with a map. Have some go-to topics or questions at hand.
And you don’t have to go it alone. If you’re worried about broaching a sensitive topic, or interacting with a particularly prickly guest, coordinate with a friend or relative.
If you expect to see someone with whom you have an unresolved relationship – an estranged family member, an old friend you ghosted – try to do some prep work in advance. E-mails or letters can give people a chance to process reactions without putting them on the spot.
Even having a scripted activity on deck can make things less awkward. It doesn’t have to be anything formal, like a board game.
Just keep some tasks available for guests who might otherwise lurk uncomfortably – like shaking up the salad dressing or putting forks on the table.
4. LAUGH IT OFF
If, despite your best efforts, awkwardness does strike, offer people a way out – they’ll probably grab it. This doesn’t need to be momentous; it could be a little joke, a small-talk topic, or even – and only if things get very desperate – knocking a spoon off the table to break the silence.
5. CONSIDER THE ALTERNATIVES
These strategies might help you avoid awkwardness. But take a moment to consider whether you really want to. Awkwardness is the result of social uncertainty; it slows things down and curbs your confidence.
In its absence, other emotions can set in. Having things out in the open can be a relief, but it can also lead to anger, sadness and other feelings that might best be saved for another occasion. So if things are awkward, it’s worth looking around to see what role that awkwardness is playing, and what might take its place if it’s gone. – Alexandra Plakias
