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A As the United States has continued to stage a large scale military buildup in the Middle East, with the apparent goal of preparing for large scale military action against Iran, the possibly of U.S. security partners playing roles in hostilities has remained high. Leaders across the Western Bloc, and particularly in Europe, have expressed clear support for the goal of topping the Iranian state, while the United Kingdom has deployed forces including fighter aircraft to the Middle East which are poised to provide support. While regional states such as Jordan have taken part in Western-led operations against Iran in the past, the much larger scale and greater intensity of a possible new phase of hostilities has raised the possibility of much greater participation from Western-aligned regional actors, with Turkey in particular poised to play a major role.

While Turkey has played a primary role in the wider U.S. campaign against Iran through sustained attacks and support for jihadist paramilitary forces against Iran’s primary security partner Syria, resulting in the state’s collapse in December 2024 after close to 14 years of hostilities, it has also played a wider role beyond providing basing rights for U.S. and other Western forces. Following an Israeli attack on Iran in June 13, the Turkish Kurecik Radar Station in the country’s Malatya province played an important role in supporting Israeli missile defence efforts to block Iran’s retaliatory ballistic missile attacks. Iranian state media outlet Press TV cited officials stating on this basis that Turkey was “spying on Iran for Zionist interests.” The AN/TPY-2 radar systems at the facility in question were installed U.S. military personnel in the early 2010s, allowing it to open it 2012.

The Turkish government confirmed that radar data from the Kurecik base is shared with the other NATO members, and was “established in line with Turkey’s national security and interests and is intended to ensure the protection of the NATO allies,” meaning data could be used to protect U.S. and other Western forces at bases across the Middle East, including U.S. Armed Forces units in Israel. Beyond the AN/TPY-2 system, however, Turkey has also operationalised one of the most potent missile defence systems in the Middle East, the Russian S-400, which appears poised to play a key role in possible hostilities. Turkish officials’ arguments regarding the need to procure the S-400 have specifically cited the requirement for an advanced missile defence capability against Iran, with the system’s sensor suite is also capable of providing early warning and targeting data from far beyond Turkey’s borders.

The S-400’s 91N6E “Big Bird” 3D long-range surveillance & target acquisition radar provides the a panoramic surveillance capability for wide-area airspace scanning and target tracking, with a range of up to 600 kilometres, allowing it to ‘peer’ deep into Iran. The system can track hundreds of targets simultaneously, and operates in multiple bands with electronic protection/jamming resistance. This is complemented by the 96L6, an additional 3D acquisition radar covering a wide altitude range, which is optimised for detecting low-flying targets such as unmanned aircraft and cruise missiles, filling gaps in coverage from the main radar. These radar systems can provide invaluable early warning against Iranian missile strikes, potentially allowing U.S. and Israeli aircraft to launch precision strikes on the locations of Iranian missile launches at much earlier stages, while cueing Western and Israeli missile defence assets across the region.

The possibly of the S-400 system being utilised in roles beyond missile early warning remains significant in the event of a high intensity conflict, with Turkey’s treaty alliance with the United States and longstanding strategic partnership with Israel meaning it may be relied on for support. The S-400’s 40N6 missiles have demonstrated the capability to intercept hypersonic ballistic targets at speeds of up to Mach 8, and at ranges of up to 400 kilometres, which is a capability unmatched by Western and Israeli systems. This could be used to intercept Iranian ballistic missiles to protect U.S. and other allied facilities. The support the Untied States has been able to draw on from a wide range of regional security partners to achieve its strategic goals, where Iran after the toppling of the Syrian state has remained isolated, has placed Washington in a highly advantageous position to pursue its war effort, with Turkey’s role having been particularly central. With Russia having provided Turkey with full autonomy in utilising the S-400, which was customised to be able to integrate with NATO-standard networks, the system is poised to play a major role in broader allied missile defence efforts in the region.

Distinguished guests, teachers, and students:

Hello everyone. The title of my remarks today is “Boosting Consumption: The Key Is to Activate the Endogenous Momentum of Household Consumption.”

Boosting consumption, also described as expanding or stimulating consumption, is not a new topic. But at this particular moment, as the 15th Five-Year Plan period begins, the task looks different in one important respect: policy efforts to boost consumption should focus more directly on strengthening households’ endogenous willingness and capacity to consume. That is the core point that needs to be made clear.

I. Facing squarely four new challenges

The Annual Central Economic Work Conference has put forward the concepts of long-standing and new challenges. In the case of boosting consumption, what are the new challenges behind this familiar agenda?

The first is the challenge to keep economic growth within a reasonable range during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China set the goal of basically achieving socialist modernisation by 2035. With only ten years remaining until 2035, the 15th Five-Year Plan period is a critical phase for laying the groundwork and scaling up efforts.

The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China further proposed that the 15th Five-Year Plan period should deliver decisive progress towards basically achieving socialist modernisation. This is not merely a qualitative aspiration; it also comes with firm quantitative requirements. One key benchmark is that per capita GDP should reach the level of moderately developed countries. Using 2025 figures, the entry threshold is roughly US$25,000 to US$26,000. China’s per capita GDP in 2024 was US$13,500. In other words, per capita GDP would need to roughly double over the next ten years to meet that benchmark.

This implies that China’s development agenda has entered a “countdown” phase. Any discussion of boosting consumption must therefore start from a clear premise: over the next decade, growth needs to be kept within a reasonable range.

The second challenge is: What will drive and sustain growth within a reasonable range? A broad consensus has now formed that consumption is both the primary engine of economic growth and a stabilising anchor. Put plainly, keeping growth within a reasonable range depends mainly on domestic demand—and, within domestic demand, first and foremost on consumption. Any discussion of boosting consumption has to engage with this proposition directly.

The third challenge is that, within the realm of domestic demand, the most prominent constraint at present is weak consumption. The Central Economic Work Conference noted that “the contradiction of strong domestic supply and weak domestic demand is acute.” The clearest expression of “weak demand” is, precisely, sluggish consumption.

The 2025 trajectory of growth in total retail sales of consumer goods illustrates this clearly. Growth reached 6.4% in May 2025, then fell steadily, dropping to 1.3% by November. December data have not yet been released, but the trend points to a level around 1%, or slightly above. [In December, the total retail sales of consumer goods in China rose by 0.9% year on year. The data was released on 20 January, three days after Gao’s speech. —Yuxuan’s note]

2025 was the year in which China’s fiscal and monetary policies were mobilised most intensively to support consumption, with the associated policy costs likely reaching historical highs. When the relationship between policy inputs and outcomes is taken into account, weak consumption necessarily emerges as the central issue. If the objective is to expand domestic demand, the priority must be to overcome this weakness in consumption.

The fourth challenge is that today’s shortfall in consumption demand has distinctive features of its own. Taking total retail sales of consumer goods as the core indicator, insufficient consumption can be divided into four scenarios: volume and prices rising together; volume and prices falling together; volume rising while prices fall; and volume falling while prices rise. The weakness in consumption demand in 2025 falls squarely into the third category—volume rising while prices fall.

Data released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on 21 October 2025 can serve as supporting evidence. In the first three quarters of 2025, domestic residents made 4.988 billion trips, an increase of 18% year on year, while total tourism spending reached RMB 4.88 trillion, up 11.5%. These headline figures appear robust, but the gap of 6.5 percentage points between the two growth rates is telling. Average spending per trip actually declined, from RMB 1,024 in 2024 to RMB 970.

II. Telling four “new stories” well

The domestic travel data cited above show a distinctive pattern in current domestic consumption: volume is rising, while prices are falling. This suggests that China’s economy has new stories to tell, and that consumption, as part of the broader economic picture, also has new stories. The basic logic behind these new developments needs to be explained clearly and made widely understood.

The first “new story” concerns insufficient consumption demand under the intertwined dynamics of rising volume and falling prices. When discussing total retail sales of consumer goods, the scale of consumption, and related indicators, it is essential to separate the “volume” and “price” components. In essence, consumption is volume times price. At present, the main source of consumption weakness lies mainly in falling prices, and these price declines are not the result of changes in market supply-and-demand relations.

The second “new story” is to look beyond the surface and identify what sits behind insufficient consumption demand—namely, expectations and confidence. The tourism market provides a clear example: the core reason per-capita spending has fallen is not shifting supply-and-demand conditions, but weaker market expectations and subdued consumer confidence. What looks like weak demand on the surface is, at its root, weaker expectations; what appears to be insufficient consumption is, in substance, insufficient confidence.

The Government Work Report delivered at the 2025 National People’s Congress identifies one particularly prominent contradiction: “Sluggish domestic demand was compounded by weak public expectations .” Linking weak domestic demand with weak expectations in discussing the prominent challenges facing China’s economic performance is something that warrants special attention.

The third “new story” that needs to be told well is the relationship between pressures on employment and income, weaker expectations, and insufficient demand.

What has led to weaker market expectations and a lack of confidence across society? The draft proposals on the 15th Five-Year Plan issued by the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee explicitly note that current economic performance faces the challenge of “considerable pressure weighing on employment and personal income growth” The Central Economic Work Conference contains similar language.

It is precisely these pressures on employment and income growth that have weakened households’ expectations about future job prospects and income growth, thereby suppressing current consumption demand.

The fourth “new story” is the need to view consumption through three dimensions: demand, supply, and expectations. The Annual Central Economic Work Conference in 2021 made an important judgment with a historic turning-point significance: “China’s economic development is facing pressure from demand contraction, supply shocks and weakening expectations.”

Re-reading this statement at today’s historical juncture, it is more than a list of problems and contradictions. More importantly, it provides a framework for understanding them. Whether the task is to discuss consumption or to assess the broader economic situation, the approach must differ from the past: demand, supply, and expectations need to be examined together, as part of an integrated analysis.

III. Reaffirming four basic common understandings

In exploring how to boost consumption amid profound changes in the economic landscape, several points basic to economic reasoning need to be reaffirmed and kept firmly in view.

First, consumption is a function of income and wealth accumulation. Changes in the pattern of income and wealth accumulation shape the direction of households’ expectations and confidence. When pressures on employment and income alter expectations and lead to insufficient consumption, efforts to boost consumption must start with improving the underlying pattern of income formation and wealth accumulation.

Ángela María Vergara, a member of the Conservative Party who has supported President Donald Trump and opposed social reforms in Colombia, reported that her 22-year-old son has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the United States for 17 days.

"There are no guarantees in absolutely anything."

In a video, Vergara asked for help to free his son, Rafael Alfonso Vergara, who was detained by immigration agents in Louisiana while working for a freight transport company.

"One would think that the prison system in the United States is different, but from what I am experiencing firsthand, there are absolutely no guarantees," the representative stated.

According to his testimony, the officers handcuffed his son, confiscated his belongings, and transferred him to the River Correctional Center detention center in Louisiana. In a three-minute phone call, the young man denounced the harsh and inhumane conditions he faces, which have caused him emotional distress.

The path of voluntary departure

Given the situation, the family suggested a voluntary departure as the only way to regain their freedom. This process can take more than 45 days to be finalized. The congresswoman requested that diplomatic channels be activated to expedite repatriation flights and that the hundreds of cases of Colombians in similar circumstances be monitored.

Currently, thousands of families face immense anguish due to the lack of information about the whereabouts of their detained loved ones. Furthermore, once they accept deportation, they must wait for humanitarian flights and pay for their own return tickets.

Former President Andrés Pastrana, known for being a friend of Epstein, meet with Ángela María Vergara.

The political career of Ángela Vergara

In the past, the Supreme Court investigated Vergara for allegedly receiving bribes from percentages of local contracts, when he served as a councilman in Cartagena, to favor a candidate for the local mayoralty.

The congresswoman, along with her party, has opposed the Financing Law and the social reforms promoted by Gustavo Petro's government. She has also sided with the U.S. government in diplomatic conflicts with the Colombian president.

Vergara is part of the pro-life caucus, where he has promoted positions that, according to his critics, have fostered discrimination against the beliefs of indigenous peoples.

The congresswoman defended Charlie Kirk, a far-right American activist who died under strange circumstances last year.

Figures on immigration persecution

According to data from the ICE Deportation Data Project, between January 20, 2025—when Trump assumed his second term—and October 15 of that year, federal agents arrested 6,814 Colombians. This figure represents a 46% increase compared to the same period in 2024, when 3,161 arrests were recorded.

This means that, on average, during the first ten months of the Trump administration, about 25 Colombians were taken into immigration custody every day. Of these, 264 were minors.

Only 1,201 Colombians detained had a criminal conviction. That is, 82% of those arrested by ICE had no criminal record.

Government silence and repatriations

So far, Congresswoman Vergara has received expressions of solidarity from various political parties, including the governing party. However, there has been no official statement from the Executive branch regarding her specific case. The only announcement made was the arrival of the latest repatriation flight from the United States, carrying 112 Colombians, who were received with care and inter-institutional support.

U.S. arbitrary measures hinder the Bolivarian nation’s development. During an interview with U.S. broadcaster NBC News in Caracas, Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodriguez stated that her country needs to be free of sanctions in order to hold elections and develop its energy potential.

“Holding free and fair elections in Venezuela also means having a free country where justice can be exercised. A country free of sanctions,” she said, emphasizing how U.S. sanctions hinder the growth of the Bolivarian nation as an energy power and as a sovereign people.

Her remarks come amid what Venezuelan authorities describe as the kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro, who has been held illegally by the U.S. in a maximum-security prison in New York since Jan. 3, 2025.

Rodriguez’s statements echo those of Maduro, who since 2020 has repeatedly said Venezuela seeks “elections free of sanctions, of blockades, of aggression” and of “economic war.”

In November 2022, during a press conference with international media, President Maduro announced that the Bolivarian government would resume comprehensive dialogue with all sectors of the opposition to ensure elections are held in a scenario free of sanctions.

During that appearance, the Venezuelan president underscored that electoral transparency and justice depend directly on compliance with political agreements and the end of what he described as economic siege against the nation.

In July 2023, Maduro again emphasized that Venezuela wants “elections free of sanctions, of blockades, of aggression, and of economic war.” He once more demanded that the U.S. government lift all such measures “without any conditions.”

“We want elections free of sanctions, of blockades, of aggression, of economic war. Lift all the so-called sanctions. The North American empire must lift all sanctions, without any conditions whatsoever, and we will move forward,” President Maduro said.

With what she described as a firm commitment to defending Venezuela’s independence, Rodriguez reiterated that the path toward political normalization requires the total elimination of what she called “so-called sanctions,” allowing the exercise of suffrage to be a sovereign expression of the people’s will in defense of justice and national dignity.

Nicolas Maduro Is the Legitimate President of Venezuela

Asked about leadership in the country, Rodriguez stressed that Maduro remains the legitimate president and that she is serving as acting president with daily and rigorous effort.

She reaffirmed her legitimacy at the head of the executive branch, explaining that she assumed leadership following constitutional order after the kidnapping of President Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores.

The Venezuelan acting president pointed out that her country’s institutional stability has allowed progress in high-level meetings, such as a recent meeting with U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright to evaluate projects of mutual benefit.

An Invitation to Visit the United States

On Wednesday, Rodriguez met with Wright to evaluate an energy agenda beneficial to both nations within the framework of historic bilateral relations.

The acting president stressed that, through peace diplomacy, both countries can overcome their differences. She also mentioned receiving an invitation to travel to the United States, a possibility currently under consideration.

“We are considering going there once we establish this cooperation and can move forward with everything,” Rodriguez said, leaving the door open to future rapprochement.

Jan. 3, 2026, is already considered a key date in contemporary Latin American history. On that day, the U.S. government attacked a sovereign nation, kidnapped President Maduro and lawmaker Flores, leaving hundreds dead and widespread destruction.

Venezuelan society is still processing the U.S. aggression. Citizens are seeking explanations for the uncertainties affecting the political and economic landscape: what is the relationship between the two spheres, and which of them — or both — account for circumstances shaking daily life.

In recent days, amid the situation, Acting president Rodriguez reiterated that peaceful coexistence is the path toward the country’s economic and social peace. She underscored the importance of full public participation in all national initiatives.

She said the goal for 2026 is to consolidate grassroots power and indicated that authorities will seek to support communities in organizing so that economic growth translates into social well-being for workers. She reiterated that Venezuela is advancing in national cohesion and rebuilding bridges with other countries through working agendas aimed at benefiting the people.

Tehran, Feb 16 (Prensa Latina) The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, stated today that the United States can define its interests in negotiations with Tehran independently of those of Israel.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, the official noted that talks between Iran and the United States are ongoing and that several countries in the region are working to ensure their success.

Larijani revealed that he recently conveyed a message to Washington through Oman's Foreign Minister, Badr bin Hamad bin Hamoud Al Busaidi, although he specified that they have not yet received an official response.

The United States can set its interests in the negotiations apart from those of Israel, and Iran is open to cooperating in them, he said.

He also considered it unlikely that Washington would seek a new armed confrontation, although he warned that any military action against his country would be met with a response.

The Iranian leader maintained that Tehran is not seeking war, but is prepared to defend itself. In his view, Israel is trying to sabotage the negotiations and is playing a destabilizing role in the region.

On February 6, Oman hosted a new round of nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington, following the suspension of contacts after Israeli and American attacks against Iran in June 2025.

US media reported on preparations for a second round of indirect talks, scheduled for the coming days in Geneva, Switzerland.

While Washington insists that Iran must completely halt its uranium enrichment activities and broaden the negotiating agenda to include its missile program and regional policy, Tehran maintains that it will only discuss its nuclear program and demands the lifting of Western economic sanctions as part of any agreement.

The Democratic legislator proposes to expand trade, travel and diplomatic engagement. On Thursday, Jim McGovern, a Democratic U.S. representative for Massachusetts’ 2nd Congressional District, introduced a bill to eliminate the legal basis of the U.S. blockade against Cuba.

“I introduced a bill to repeal the U.S. embargo against Cuba. For over six decades, the U.S. has embraced failed, obsolete, Cold War thinking toward Cuba,” said the lawmaker, who is also a senior member of the House Rules Committee, a leading anti-hunger advocate and co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.

“Our 60-plus-year embargo has been ineffective and counterproductive — it hurts the Cuban people, it strengthens hardliners, it gives rise to more refugees, and it undercuts our standing in the world,” he added.

“We have tried the same thing for over 60 years — and it has failed for over 60 years. Let’s try something different — let’s open things up! Let’s lift the embargo, giving U.S. businesses, entrepreneurs, tourists and universities more access.”

“Let’s push for freedom and democracy through diplomacy and engagement. Let’s let Cubans who live on the island decide their own future — not Marco Rubio or Donald Trump,” McGovern concluded.

His bill, titled the United States-Cuba Trade Act (H.R. 7521), seeks to repeal the statutory basis for the U.S. embargo on Cuba. To that end, McGovern’s proposal would:

• Remove the primary authority for the U.S. president to maintain a total trade embargo on Cuba by repealing Section 620(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.

• Effectively end the regulatory basis for the Cuban Assets Control Regulations by terminating authorities under the Trading With the Enemy Act regarding Cuba.

• Eliminate the codification of the embargo and legal obstacles to property-related transactions by repealing the Helms-Burton Act.

• Delete restrictions on trade and limits on the entry of vessels into U.S. ports that have recently traded with Cuba by repealing the Cuban Democracy Act.

• Remove Cuba-specific restrictions on agricultural and medical exports by amending the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act.

• Remove the ban on Cuba’s participation in the U.S. sugar program by repealing the sugar quota prohibition in the Food Security Act.

• End restrictions on the registration or renewal of certain Cuban-related trademarks by repealing Section 211 of the Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.

• Provide direct telecommunications services between the two nations by authorizing U.S. common carriers to install and maintain telecommunications facilities in Cuba.

• Protect the right to travel by prohibiting the government from regulating or banning travel to Cuba if the activity is otherwise lawful for U.S. citizens.

• Promote settlement of outstanding property claims by U.S. nationals and the protection of internationally recognized human rights by directing the U.S. president to negotiate with the Cuban government.

• Extend nondiscriminatory, or normal trade relations, tariff treatment to Cuban products by amending the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, repealing Cuba-specific tariff provisions and ending application of Title IV of the Trade Act of 1974 to Cuba.

• Prohibit the U.S. Treasury Department from limiting remittances to Cuba.

• Require the U.S. president to submit a report to Congress on U.S.-Cuba trade relations within 18 months of enactment.

Upon receiving the Cuban ambassador in Minsk, Santiago Pérez, the Belarusian Foreign Minister reaffirmed his country's unwavering policy of friendship and solidarity with the Caribbean nation in complex times, such as the present.

In that regard, the head of the Cuban diplomatic mission told Prensa Latina that during the exchange Rizhenkov expressed the willingness of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko and his administration to provide humanitarian aid to alleviate the energy crisis facing the largest of the Antilles.

Pérez also commented that both nations are working to strengthen economic and trade ties in different sectors, topics that will be analyzed at the next Cuba-Belarus Intergovernmental Commission meeting, which is scheduled to take place next March.

Previously, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry condemned the oil blockade actions that the United States imposed on Cuba on January 29.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus continues to follow with concern the situation surrounding Cuba and the supply of energy resources to this country," the diplomatic entity said in a statement.

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry stated that it is watching with unease how the threat of the current escalation in the Caribbean could turn into a serious humanitarian crisis with unpredictable consequences.

Minsk constantly insists on the unacceptability of applying unilateral coercive measures that create obstacles to trade relations between States.

The Foreign Ministry stressed that these sanctions hinder the process of comprehensive socio-economic development and make it difficult to guarantee the well-being of the population.

In the document, the Belarusian authorities expressed their firm conviction that all differences should be resolved through peaceful dialogue and within the framework of international law.

San Salvador, Feb 16 (Prensa Latina) The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, predicted that thousands of Hondurans will die if the government of President Nasry Asfura does not confront the gangs, press media highlighted today.

Statements by the president, cited by the newspaper El Mundo, call into question the Honduran government's Secretary of Security, Gerson Onán Velásquez, who denied that the so-called "Bukele Model" is applicable to his country.

“I had stayed out of it because I know that many of my Honduran brothers and sisters expect the new government to do something about security. But to hear the new Minister of Security defend the “human rights” of criminals is truly sad,” Bukele said.

“Thousands of Hondurans will die because of these people,” the Salvadoran president wrote on his social media.

The president referred to a 45-second video of an interview with Onán Velásquez, conducted last Thursday, February 12, on a Honduran channel. In the video, Velásquez is asked what he thinks of the Bukele model, and he responds that it is "interesting" and requires "a lot of study."

The interviewer countered that Honduras is next to El Salvador, and Onán Velásquez responded: “We have different characteristics, territorially speaking. El Salvador fits in Olancho, they have a number of police and military personnel exceeding 60,000, and they have political control of the institutions that allows them to make reforms that even go against human rights.”

The newspaper review noted that Honduras faces a critical security situation, especially due to the high rate of homicides and extortion, particularly by the gangs that plague the country.

The new Honduran president, a descendant of Palestinians like Bukele, has the backing of Donald Trump's US government and promised to combat insecurity.

Regarding these contradictions, Hondurans attending the concert of Colombian singer Shakira praised the safe environment in El Salvador, where they can walk the streets without fear of gangs.

Many foreigners, such as Honduran José Henríquez, agree that current conditions allow them to carry out activities that they previously considered risky.

Meanwhile, Ricardo Henríquez, also Honduran, praised the treatment he received here and said that he felt a sense of security in any place he visited, compared to the situation in his country.

“I believe this can be replicated, what I believe is lacking in my country is the will to do it, which is what this man (President Bukele) has in abundance.”

Rodrigo Duterte faces charges of murder, attempted murder, and crimes against humanity. On Friday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) rejected the appeal filed by the defense of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. It confirms that he can participate in the preliminary phase of his trial for crimes against humanity during his country’s “War on Drugs.”

His defense alleged errors of fact and law, disregard for clinical evidence, refusal to hear from medical experts, lack of coherent reasoning, and failure to consider the impact on Duterte’s “capacity to stand trial.”

The Pre-Trial Chamber dismissed the defense’s arguments, stating that medical reports were considered and served as the basis for ordering an independent examination conducted by three experts appointed by the ICC.

The Chamber explained that it had outlined the applicable legal standard before concluding that Duterte could exercise his procedural rights and participate in the preliminary phase.

Regarding Duterte’s capacity to stand the future trial, the Chamber considered the argument “hypothetical,” clarifying that the decision does not prejudge his fitness and could be reviewed if the charges are confirmed.

In March 2025, Duterte was arrested in Manila on an ICC arrest warrant and transferred to The Hague, where international legal proceedings against him are taking place.

The hearing, initially scheduled for September 2025, was postponed due to defense objections and is now set to begin on February 23.

He faces charges of murder, attempted murder, and crimes against humanity committed between November 2011 and March 2019, while he served as mayor of Davao and later as president of the Philippines.

Buenos Aires, Feb 16 (Prensa Latina) The General Confederation of Labor (CGT) and the United Trade Union Front (FSU) are planning a national strike today when the Chamber of Deputies debates the labor reform, a session that Javier Milei's executive branch wants to bring forward to Thursday the 19th.

The CGT leadership is meeting this Monday to define the labor action to be taken, while the FSU, made up of the Union of Metalworkers, the Association of State Workers, Oil Workers and the two Workers' Centrals of Argentina, has already announced a strike with mobilization on the day of the session in the lower house.

These unions will insist on more demonstrations despite the brutal repression suffered by last Wednesday's mobilization.

The Senate gave preliminary approval to a bill that the ruling party changed to advance it, but a subsequent reading alerted unions that even with the changes, workers will lose many rights.

Given this scenario, there is little room left for the dialogue strategy that the CGT has been following with the Executive Branch.

Within the CGT, voices are growing calling for action after the meager changes achieved in the labor reform. This shift was hinted at by one of the leaders, Cristián Jerónimo, according to Ámbito Financiero.

“We said it very clearly, as long as our requests and demands are not met, the conflict will escalate,” the union leader was quoted as saying by that media outlet.

Despite all the behind-the-scenes contacts with the executive branch and governors willing to engage in dialogue, the CGT barely managed to secure funding for unions and social welfare programs in the Senate. Instead, they lost the primacy of national collective bargaining agreements and the right to strike, among other restrictions.

With the general strike, the CGT will try to put pressure on the deputies to, at least, achieve more changes in the labor reform that will force the law to return to the Senate.

Some are even hoping to block the legislation if its approval is delayed. Perhaps the social climate could change starting in March if the economic situation remains tight or worsens, Ámbito Financiero added.

The conflict over labor reform will not end in the Chamber of Deputies. The strategy outlined by the leadership of the CGT and other unions will be completed in the courts.

In their analysis, the law has many gray areas that could lead to legal challenges. Union leaders are hopeful – notes Ámbito Financiero – of repeating the legal challenges they faced with the limitation of the right to strike, which the executive branch attempted to implement through a decree but which was blocked in various courts, the union movement anticipates.

To calm tempers and gain support for the project in the lower house, Senator Patricia Bullrich, the main promoter of the project in Congress, said that given the widespread rejection of the article that cuts or eliminates salary during sick leave, they will modify it so that the salary is full in case of serious illness.

She highlights commitment to peace and announces funding for 400 youth-led projects. On Thursday, Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodriguez highlighted the participation of young people in marches commemorating the Battle of La Victoria held in Caracas, where youths reaffirmed their commitment to peace in the Bolivarian nation.

On Feb. 12, the streets of Caracas were the scene of a large youth mobilization that, despite the political diversity of its participants, converged on a central message: the defense of peace and democratic coexistence in Venezuela.

Rodriguez celebrated the mobilizations, saying Venezuelan youth are demonstrating political maturity grounded in respect for differences. She felt deeply moved seeing students from the Venezuela’s Central University march without fear and without repression — a contrast she recalled when evoking the years of the Fourth Republic, when protests were met with violence.

For the Acting President, the ability of young people from different political currents to express themselves freely is a sign of the historic moment the country is experiencing.

Rodriguez invited students, workers, and youth organizations to join the “Program for Democratic Coexistence and Peace,” an initiative aimed at strengthening spaces for dialogue, promoting respectful debate and building collective solutions from ideological plurality. Within the program, youth volunteerism will be key to consolidating a political culture based on dialogue and participation.

The mobilizations in Caracas coincided with the 212th anniversary of the Battle of La Victoria, an emblematic date for Venezuelan youth. During rallies called by the Venezuelan United Socialist Party (PSUV), young people demanded the release of President Nicolas Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores, who were both kidnapped by U.S. forces on Jan. 3.

Rodriguez insisted that youth play a decisive role in defending sovereignty and building the nation’s future. “We aspire for youth to deeply love Venezuela and feel proud of its history,” she said, underscoring the importance of keeping alive the memory of the liberators and the struggles that have shaped the country’s course.

On Thursday, Rodriguez announced the approval of funding to finance 400 new productive projects led by young people. The initiatives include quail, chicken, hen, pig, rabbit, and goat farming, as well as sewing, garment-making and sublimation workshops.

The goal is to promote youth entrepreneurship and generate employment opportunities that contribute to local economic development. The Ministry of Youth and the Ministry of Economy will be responsible for ensuring that the funds reach beneficiaries directly.

Rodriguez emphasized that the support seeks to secure a first dignified and productive job for thousands of young people who want to contribute to the country through innovation and community work. She also stressed that the projects not only strengthen the popular economy but also consolidate youth organizational networks.

Thursday’s mobilizations underscored that Venezuelan youth continue to be a highly relevant political and social force. From different sectors, young people expressed their willingness to actively participate in public life, defend their rights and contribute to the country’s transformation.

Rodriguez concluded by reaffirming that the government will continue to promote policies that strengthen youth participation and foster spaces for dialogue among diverse sectors.

For her, the day was a clear demonstration that Venezuelan youth are prepared to take on the historic challenge of building a country at peace, with social justice and respect for plurality.

Paris, Feb 16 (Prensa Latina) French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez will travel to Algeria today to seek a rapprochement on security issues, amid bilateral tensions in the diplomatic arena.

The two-day visit is in response to an invitation from his Algerian counterpart, Said Sayoud, made months ago, a trip delayed by the crisis between the two countries, fueled by various incidents.

I will be in Algeria for a working meeting with my counterpart, after a preparation phase by technical teams, the minister announced on Friday in Marseille.

Since taking office last year, Núñez has been a proponent of improving Paris-Algiers ties on security issues, a change of stance from his predecessor, Bruno Retailleau, who favored a hardline approach towards the North African country.

The former police prefect of the French capital considers the exchange of information between the Gendarmerie, the Police and Internal Security with their Algerian counterparts to be relevant.

The time will have to come when we talk, when we return to strategic discussions, the senior official stated at the end of 2025.

The release last November of writer Boualem Sansal, detained in Algeria for allegedly posing a threat to national security, opened a path to dialogue, although no concrete progress has been made since then.

France and Algeria have been engaged in months of confrontation and retaliatory measures between the parties, against the backdrop of Paris's recognition of Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara, whose independence Algeria supports, without ignoring the wounds of the colonial past and the bloody war of independence.

This was compounded by the condemnation of Sansal and the refusal of the African nation to receive Algerians deported by France, after considering them promoters of violence and destabilization.

It seemed that the crisis was heading towards a solution following a telephone conversation at the end of March 2025 between Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who agreed to end tensions and return to cooperation in the areas of security and migration.

However, the French National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office arrested one of the consular agents of the North African country, presented as a suspect for the kidnapping in April 2024 of the Algerian opposition asylee Amir Boukhors, known as AmirDZ, an arrest that fueled the confrontation.

The libertarian proposal will weaken unions and generate greater gender inequality. Once approved by the Senate, President Javier Milei’s “Labor Modernization Law” must now be taken up by Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies.

Possibly through the end of February, lawmakers will bear the ultimate responsibility of approving or rejecting a libertarian proposal that changes severance pay, eliminates overtime, weakens collective bargaining and restricts the right to strike.

What Argentina’s far right calls “modernizing the labor market” is, however, a deterioration of working conditions. To show that this is indeed the case, the feminist newspaper LatFem published an extensive analysis of Milei’s reform, whose main aspects are summarized below.

The Essence of the Reform

The far-right Argentine government is seeking a labor reform that is deeply regressive in terms of workers’ rights and aims to sweep away protections won by workers under democracy.

The “Labor Modernization Law” promotes changes in labor relations, weakens unions’ capacity for action and alters the calculation of severance pay. Far from updating legislation to reflect transformations in the contemporary labor world, Milei’s bill is a deliberate attempt to roll back decades of labor gains in Argentina.

The project is tailored to large economic groups — which view unions and labor laws as obstacles to investment and economic growth — and reduces protections for formal workers while completely ignoring the reality of informal workers — about 5.6 million people — and those in the popular economy.

Instead of generating greater formalization of employment, the libertarian government’s proposal deepens deregulation and job insecurity. Among the bill’s central features are changes to severance pay, the creation of an “hours bank,” the possibility of paying wages in dollars and through digital wallets, and restrictions on the right to strike.

The text reads, “Outrageous. They want to push through this reform by force of repression. We must redouble our mobilization, launch a plan of action, and call for a general strike!”

Cheaper Severance, Paid in Installments

The libertarian labor reform proposes replacing the current severance system with a Labor Assistance Fund (FAL), a mechanism allowing companies to contribute 3% of their workers’ salaries to a fund that would be used to pay future dismissal compensation.

Creation of the FAL would mean the state would stop collecting employer contributions and redirect them to cover the cost of layoffs. In practice, the state would finance part of the cost of private-sector dismissals.

Luis Campos, a researcher at the Institute of Studies and Training of the Argentine Workers’ Central Union (CTA), defined it bluntly: “A mandatory termination fund financed 100% with public resources. Yes, the state in charge of paying severance.”

Labor attorney Natalia Salvo says “the termination fund is unconstitutional because it runs counter to protection against arbitrary dismissal,” provided for in the Constitution’s Article 14.

According to Salvo, by eliminating the punitive cost of dismissals, the reform fails to protect workers from possible arbitrariness and deprives them of their jobs without cause and, therefore, of the human right to work.

“With this reform, high turnover would become the rule: anyone who has contributed to the termination fund could fire a worker, and unjustified dismissal would become much more frequent,” Salvo warned.

In addition, the bill changes the calculation of severance and excludes the year-end bonus, vacation pay, tips, bonuses and other nonmonthly benefits. If approved, severance payments would be lower than they are today and, if the case goes to court, could be paid in 12 installments.

Fewer Rights, More Flexibility

Milei’s bill introduces changes that give employers greater leeway at the expense of workers’ rights. Among them:

Hours bank: The measure introduces an hours bank allowing companies to compensate extended workdays with later time off instead of paying overtime.

Vacations in installments: The vacation system would be made more flexible, allowing employers to split vacation time into segments of at least seven days and extending the legal period for granting vacation to any time of year.

If approved, this change could make it harder to take time off during the summer season and complicate coordination with the school calendar and family life.

Weakening of collective bargaining: The government’s proposal seeks to decentralize collective bargaining over working conditions, strengthening company-level negotiations over sectorwide agreements.

As a result, minimum wage floors established by collective agreements by activity would no longer be guaranteed, and workers would have to negotiate their minimum salary with employers.

The bill also ends union ultra-activity, meaning collective bargaining agreements would no longer be automatically extended if they expire without a new deal. These measures weaken unions’ bargaining power and facilitate downward adjustments in wages and working conditions.

Restrictions on the right to strike: By broadening the definition of essential services, which would require mandatory service levels of between 50% and 75%, the bill limits the possibility of strikes to demand better wages and conditions.

It also imposes limits on workers’ assemblies, requires prior employer authorization and establishes that assembly time is unpaid.

“We are facing a reform made to suit the market, whose sole purpose is to weaken union tools and discipline workers,” said Johana Duarte, secretary of the Union of Workers of the Popular Economy (UTEP).

The Maze of Informality

The labor reform proposed by the far-right Freedom Advances party establishes a special regime for platform workers, keeping them classified as self-employed or single-tax payers and rejecting the existence of an employment relationship with the apps, which would only be required to guarantee road safety equipment and insurance.

In that sense, the reform not only fails to solve the problem of high informality — which affects 43.3% of the economically active population — but facilitates it.

“This bill directly excludes platform workers and those providing services as ‘collaborators for independent employers’ from the application of the Labor Contract Law,” Salvo said. For her, the absence of penalties for failing to register workers and the creation of categories that exclude vast sectors from labor legislation pave the way for greater lack of protection.

“What should be discussed is how to register and grant rights to the more than 10 million workers who are currently informal. Instead, the government’s reform seeks to strip rights from those who have formal employment,” Duarte warned.

A Reform Without a Gender Perspective

In Argentina, women face a structural disadvantage in the labor market: unemployment stands at 8.5% for women and 6.8% for men, while the gender pay gap is 29.5% and widens to 38% among informal workers. Far from addressing this inequality, the libertarian labor reform would deepen it.

“One of the most regressive cores is the flexibilization of working time: hours banks, individual negotiation and flexible compensation of workdays. In a country where, according to the National Time Use Survey, women perform three times more unpaid work than men, these schemes do not expand freedoms but punish already limited availability. The result is lower wages, less predictability and greater expulsion from formal employment for those who cannot adapt to variable or extended hours due to double or even triple workdays,” said Sol Bajar, a parliamentary adviser.

The reform also directly hits the most feminized and precarious sectors of the economy, such as services, retail, care work and domestic work, where informality is highest: 97.3% of domestic workers are women, 77.7% work informally and 40% are the primary breadwinners in their households.

“By facilitating dismissals, weakening the presumption of an employment relationship and reducing corporate responsibility, the bill reinforces a precariousness with a woman’s face: more turnover, intermittent contributions and fragmented work trajectories that later translate into lower or nonexistent pensions,” Bajar said.

Another gender impact of the labor reform is its attack on “labor rights with a gender perspective,” most of which are not recognized in the Labor Contract Law but in collective agreements, such as leave for gender-based violence, anti-harassment protocols, lactation rooms and caregiving leave.

“If lower-level agreements are enabled and ultra-activity is eliminated, those rights will be the first to disappear. This reform is not progressive at all. It is a model designed for a worker available 24 hours a day, without caregiving responsibilities and without collective organization. That subject does not exist. And for women, this regime is simply unlivable,” Bajar said.