*Hamas denounces u.s. militarization of humanitarian assistance
*India and Pakistan reach ceasefire deal
*India and Pakistan reach ceasefire deal
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00:00In Venezuela, the electoral drill ahead of the regional and national elections of May 25th is underway.
00:20In Palestine, the Hamas-resistant group denounced the militarization of humanitarian assistance in Gaza by the United States.
00:30And the Indian and the Pakistani governments have reached a ceasefire deal after several weeks of serious military confrontations.
00:44Hello and welcome to From the South. My name is Belen de los Santos. I'm from the Tresor Studios in Havana, Cuba. We'll begin with the news.
01:00We now begin with the information. In Venezuela, the electoral drill ahead of the regional and national elections of May 25th is underway.
01:10The National Electoral Council summoned citizens to participate in the democratic exercise with the objective of familiarizing the voters with the system.
01:19This drill will allow the testing of the voting machines, checking the effectiveness of the transmission media, and evaluating the technical operation and logistics of the procedure.
01:29For this purpose, the National Electoral Council set up a total of 1,187 voting centers nationwide, with the intention of strengthening the democratic process in Venezuela.
01:42Earlier on Saturday, its authorities confirmed that 100% of the stations had already opened.
01:59We are at 100% of the opening of the polling stations. We reaffirmed that this event is part of our commitment to integrity and citizen participation.
02:19The electoral program that is today a celebration. Without a doubt our electoral program is at 80% of execution.
02:32And the electoral councillor and his five rectors continue to work in total transparency.
02:40To guarantee that each vote counts and is respected, and that this great democratic celebration.
02:46Where the protagonist is the people of Venezuela, it will undoubtedly allow us to continue strengthening the vote as an institution.
02:57Democracy is a fundamental element, and with the vote of Venezuelans, we can continue building the country we all want.
03:04This mega-elections will be the 32nd electoral process since the beginning of the 21st century,
03:15in which more than 20 million Venezuelans are eligible to vote.
03:19These elections include the renewal of the 285 seats of the National Assembly, 23 governors, mayors, regional and municipal legislators,
03:29consolidating Venezuela as one of the countries with the highest number of electoral processes in the world in the last two decades.
03:36Throughout 2025, the National Electoral Council has organized multiple consultations and electoral processes.
03:59And the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, honored the Soviet soldiers of the Second World War in the city of St. Petersburg, Russia.
04:09From the Memorial Cemetery of St. Petersburg, the Venezuelan President participated in a wrath-laying ceremony to honor the fallen soldiers of the Second World War.
04:19During the event, President Nicolás Maduro highlighted the heroism of the Soviet Union in the fight against the fascist forces in Europe.
04:27In the next few hours, the head of state is expected to meet with Russian authorities as part of his ongoing agenda in the framework of Victory Day.
04:42Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Vietnam Secretary General Tolam to strengthen diplomatic ties between two nations.
04:50During the meeting, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his gratitude to the Vietnamese General Secretary
04:56for participating in the celebration of the 80th anniversary of Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War.
05:04Putin also emphasized that Russia and Vietnam have a long-standing friendship,
05:09which at this moment is successfully developing in all directions and receives regular support through diplomatic channels of communication.
05:17Tolam, for his part, noted that Victory Day was a triumph of a democratic, progressive and peace-loving people,
05:25pointing out that this victory destroyed fascism, colonialism and imperialism and brought prosperity to humanity.
05:38Now we have a short break coming up, but first, remember you can join us on TikTok at Tell Us for English,
05:43where you will find news in different formats, news updates and much more.
05:47We'll be right back. Stay with us.
05:48Welcome back to From the South.
06:11The Russian Sarovatnev State-Owned Oil Corporation has been working side-by-side with the Cuban Coupet State-Owned Company
06:19since they signed a 25-year oil deal in 2011 for the breakthrough of production areas in northern Boca de Jaruco in Cuba.
06:29The Russian company, dedicated to exploring and operating oil fields,
06:34has contributed to quadruple the annual oil production of the site over the past five years.
06:40Nowadays, the aforementioned enterprise has invested some $108 million to drill 30 new wells in Boca de Jaruco.
06:50Moreover, experts at Advanced Cuban Oil Reserves wear around 124 million barrels of proven crude oil.
06:59In this regard, they expected to find out more undiscovered offshore deposits in the north Cuba basin.
07:06Therefore, professionals of the Boca de Jaruco Joint Venture harness cutting-edge technologies to pull out the crude oil.
07:14It's a very heavy oil that's not being able to be extracted racing to the surface because it's too heavy and too dense.
07:27Next Sunday, May 11th, Uruguayans return to the polls to elect the 19 governors and 136 mayors of the country.
07:42Let's learn about some relevant aspects of these local elections in the following report by our correspondent in Uruguay, Mateo Grilla.
07:49Just two months ago, Yemen Dorsey took office as the new president of Uruguay.
07:58With the echoes of that day still fresh in the air, Uruguayans return to the polls this Sunday to elect governors and mayors.
08:06It is an important election because it defines two levels of government, the departmental and the municipal, especially the departmental is relevant from the political point of view, how the map of the departmental in tendencies will look like, where there are some expectations and a traditional behavior.
08:23In the framework of a campaign marked by a notorious decrease in citizen participation, the candidates have toured departments, cities, towns, and streets trying to transmit a message that focuses on territorial, management, and cleanliness.
08:46In Montevideo, the opposition candidates who two months ago governed the country are demanding immediate solutions and are presenting themselves as the change.
08:56But in the capital, the ruling broad front has been winning uninterruptedly for 35 years and is sure to win again.
09:04Despite this, there are issues such as security, cleanliness, transportation, and mobility that concern citizens.
09:16Cleanliness is an issue that is in the whole country, it is the first problem we have.
09:25I think we have to think about it and while we believe that Montevideo has changed a lot, there is no doubt that there is always something to do but I think that the broad front has shown that during these 35 years it has governed quite well.
09:36I believe that any of the three candidates offer very good proposals on the garbage issue, but there is also the issue of security, the issue of the streets.
09:52I believe that these are the three concerns and all three raise very good issues in this regard.
09:57The left wing closed the electoral campaign a few hours, before the beginning of the electoral ban, in an act, in which its three candidates spoke.
10:12Mario Bergara, current senator, former minister of economy, and former president of the central bank, is leading the polls, and will probably be the next governor of the capital city.
10:23We are going to do things and we are going to have achievements, we are going to have difficulties, but we are going to do it in a way that the Uruguayan people and the people of Montevideo chose 35 years ago,
10:39which is a way of ethics, transparency, accountability, of putting people at the center, of putting those who need it most as a priority.
10:46This will continue in Montevideo because the broad front will continue to govern.
10:59Despite the change in the political cycle at the national level, this does not translate mechanically to the departmental level, where the logic is different.
11:10Historically, the national party, whose leader is the now former president Lacaipu, wins in two-thirds of the departments, and in most of the mayoral offices.
11:21If the left makes a good election, it could obtain, besides Montevideo and Canelones, which are the most populated and richest territories in the country, one or two more departments,
11:32but we will have to wait until Sunday night. Thus, the political map for the next five years will be shaped.
11:40In other news, South Korea's political parties are nominating their presidential candidates for June 3rd elections starting this Saturday.
11:52Among the candidates, Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party made his presidential candidacy official and is emerging as one of the favorites after leading most of the polls.
12:03While the ruling People's Power Party chose Kim Moon-soo as its presidential candidate after several rounds of primaries.
12:11According to the electoral agenda, the presidential campaign in the Asian country will start on May 12th this year and last until June 2nd next year.
12:22Since Donald Trump became president of the United States, seven migrants have lost their lives in the custody of Immigration and Customs Informants, the ICE.
12:37According to human rights activists and national media, three people have died in an ICE center in Florida, one in Arizona, one in Missouri, one in Texas, and another in the custody of the service in Puerto Rico.
12:50According to investigations by the media and organizations, their ages range from 27 to 55 years old, and they are known to have come from different places such as Haiti, Honduras, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Vietnam, and Ukraine.
13:06It is feared that the number could be higher due to the illegal nature of these procedures.
13:11At the same time, several migrants have been reported missing.
13:20Chinese Vice Premier Heli Fang met on Saturday with both U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bennett and Trade Representative James Young-Greer in Geneva to negotiate high-stakes tariffs.
13:35Both governments highlighted their will to de-escalate levies.
13:39However, U.S. President Donald Trump posted that an 80 percent tariff would be right, although he underscored Besant and Greer would make the final decision.
13:50Meanwhile, Chinese authorities advanced they would decrease taxes if Washington responded in kind.
13:57Overall, the Trump administration imposed a 145 tariff on China.
14:03As a result, the Xi Jinping government implemented 125 levies on the U.S.
14:08In this regard, experts foresaw as the best scenario that both sides agreed on de-escalating tariffs for the sake of global trade.
14:17We have a second short break coming up, but before we invite you to visit our Facebook page at Sales for English, there you'll be able to watch our top stories, special live coverages, and much more.
14:32Follow the page and activate the notification button to stay up to date on the world's most recent events.
14:37Final short break, don't go away.
14:47Welcome back to From the South.
15:14In Palestine, the Hamas resistance group denounced the militarization of humanitarian assistance in Gaza by the United States and called on the international community to intercede.
15:25Hamas announced that the Zionist regime of Israel advanced in its illegal colonizing operations and taking tighter control over the territory together with the United States under the pretext of introducing humanitarian aid to the Comstall Enclave.
15:41According to reports, the U.S. companies will be in charge of entering and distributing humanitarian aid to Palestinian citizens, putting the security of the population at risk.
15:52In this sense, Hamas condemned Washington's participation in the Israeli plans of displacement and subjugation through a policy of famine.
16:00For their part, the United Nations announced the Zionist regime of Israel for carrying out a campaign of famine at an unprecedented speed in Gaza.
16:15With the support of the United States in this regard, the organization emphasized that at least 2.3 million people are facing shortages of basic supplies for survival as a consequence of the expansionist and ethnic cleansing plans implemented by Israel in Palestine.
16:32It should be noted that since their illegal entry into Palestinian territories, the Israeli armed troops imposed a policy of forced displacement in complicity with the United States to take over the Palestinian territory.
16:45And after several weeks of serious military confrontations, the Indian and Pakistani governments have reached a ceasefire deal thanks to the mediating role played by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the U.S.
17:06Such conflict burst out by a gun massacre on tourists last April in India, whose mastermind culprits were allegedly from Pakistan, but rooted in decades-old hostilities.
17:19Afterwards, both sides have mounted military operations, including missile attacks.
17:24As a result, dozens of civilians have been hit to death.
17:27Meanwhile, neighboring countries as Saudi Arabia and Turkey decided to act as mediators along with the United States.
17:35Subsequently, the two rival nations reached a first ceasefire deal to be enforced this Saturday, while peace negotiations are still underway, which next meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 12th.
17:48The Director General of Military Operations of Pakistan called the Director General of Military Operations of India at 15.35 hours earlier this afternoon.
18:06It was agreed between them that both sides would stop all firing and military action on land and in the air and sea with effect from 1,700 hours Indian Standard Time today.
18:25Instructions have been given on both sides to give effect to this understanding.
18:30The Director General of Military Operations will talk again on the 12th of May at 1,200 hours.
18:38Earlier on Saturday, the two nuclear powers who had reported intense bombings, India, had attacked three air bases located in Nurkhan, Rafiki and Murid.
18:56Hours later, Pakistan attacked military targets and power plants claiming that 70% of India were reporting power problems, this before the announcement of the ceasefire.
19:07The government of Nigeria reimbursed $3.4 billion of emergency funding it received from the International Monetary Fund in April of 2020.
19:26Authorities detailed that the financial assistance had been used to address the economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
19:33However, despite full repayment, Nigeria would be required to make annual payments of $30 million in special drawing rights.
19:43The repayment on the loan proved the administration's commitment to meet its international financial obligations and enhance its credibility with global financial institutions.
20:03We now move on to other topics in Spain.
20:14A fire at a factory producing chemical products for swimming pools has led to the evacuation of residents of five coastal towns in the provinces of Barcelona and Tarragona.
20:24The factory, which stores about 70 tons of chlorine, has generated a toxic cloud that has forced the Civil Protection of Catalonia to issue an alert to the residents of several cities.
20:37The authorities have advised citizens to stay indoors, close windows and doors, and avoid the use of air conditioning.
20:44The firefighters of the Generalitat have indicated that the fire is in the stabilization phase and have managed to limit its spread to other nearby warehouses.
20:55And in other news, the world celebrates today Migratory Bird Day as every second Saturday in May.
21:07The United Nations had such a day to commemorate the collaboration between the Convention on Migratory Species and the African-Russian Migratory Waterbird Agreement.
21:17Furthermore, the United Nations established the Migratory Bird Day to raise people's awareness of the importance of preserving the bird's ecosystem.
21:26This year's campaign urged the international community to work together to create and conserve habitats and to join efforts to reduce pollution.
21:40And like this, we have come to the end of this news brief.
21:43You can find these and many other stories on our website at www.telesoryenglish.net.
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21:52For Tales for English, my name is Belen de los Santos.