World
Families of Brazilian plane crash victims gather in Sao Paulo as experts work to identify the dead
SAO PAULO (AP) — Families of victims of an airliner crash in Brazil are gathering Sunday at a morgue and hotels in Sao Paulo as forensics experts work to identify the remains of the 62 people killed in the accident.
Local authorities said the bodies of the pilot, Danilo Santos Romano, and his co-pilot, Humberto de Campos Alencar e Silva, were the first to be identified by forensics experts.
Sao Paulo state government said in a statement Saturday evening that the remains of all the victims had been recovered. There were 34 male and 28 female bodies in the wreckage, it said.
The ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop operated by Brazilian airline Voepass was headed for Guarulhos international airport in Sao Paulo with 58 passengers and four crew members when it went down Friday in Vinhedo, 78 kilometers (49 miles) north of the metropolis. Voepass said three passengers who held Brazilian identification also carried Venezuelan documents and one had Portuguese.
At least eight physicians were aboard, Paraná state Gov. Ratinho Júnior said. Four professors at Unioeste university in western Paraná were also confirmed dead.
Three-year-old Liz Ibba dos Santos, who was travelling with her father, was the only child known to be on passenger list. The remains of Luna, a dog that was traveling with a Venezuelan family, was found in the wreckage.
Sao Paulo’s morgue began receiving the bodies Friday evening, and it asked victims’ relatives to bring in medical, X-ray and dental records to help identify the bodies. Blood tests were also done to help identification efforts.
The few family members speaking about the tragedy did so on social media.
Tânia Azevedo, who lost her son Tiago in the crash, was put up in one of the hotels in Sao Paulo, but said in a posting that she was waiting to go to the morgue.
“I believe Tiago is somewhere trying to help the other people wounded who also need light and love,” she said. “I couldn’t go there (to the morgue). I am here waiting. It is dark here, I need some light and love myself.”
Images recorded by witnesses showed the aircraft in a flat spin and plunging vertically before smashing to the ground inside a gated community, and leaving an obliterated fuselage consumed by fire. Residents said there were no injuries on the ground.
It was the world’s deadliest airline crash since January 2023, when 72 people died on a Yeti Airlines plane in Nepal that stalled and crashed while making its landing approach. That plane also was an ATR 72, and the final report blamed pilot error.
Metsul, one of Brazil’s most respected meteorological companies, said Friday there were reports of severe icing in Sao Paulo state around the time of the crash. Local media cited experts pointing to icing as a potential cause for the accident.
A video shared on social media channels Saturday shows a Voepass pilot telling passengers of a flight from Guarulhos to the city of Cascavel, the same origin of the crashed plane, that the ATR 72 has flown safely around the world for decades. He also asked passengers to be respectful to the memory of his colleagues and the company and asked for prayers.
“This tragedy doesn’t hit only those who perished in this accident. It hits all of us,” the unidentified pilot said. “We are giving all our hearts, all our best to be here and fulfill our mission to take you safely and comfortably to your destination.”
Police restricted access to the main entrance of the Sao Paulo morgue where bodies from the crash were being identified. Some family members of the victims arrived on foot, others came in minivans. None spoke to journalists, and authorities requested that they not be filmed as they came.
A flight carrying more family members from Paraná state landed Saturday afternoon at Guarulhos airport, and they also chose not to speak to journalists. A minivan sponsored by the airline was provided to transport them to the morgue.
Many family members were gathering at a hotel in downtown Sao Paulo, and declining to speak to media there, too.
An American Eagle ATR 72-200 crashed on Oct. 31, 1994, and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause was ice buildup while the plane was circling in a holding pattern. The plane rolled at about 8,000 feet and dove into the ground, killing all 68 people on board. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued operating procedures for ATRs and similar planes telling pilots not to use the autopilot in icing conditions.
Brazilian aviation expert Lito Sousa cautioned that meteorological conditions alone might not be enough to explain why the Voepass plane fell in the manner it did Friday.
“Analyzing an air crash just with images can lead to wrong conclusions about the causes,” Sousa told The Associated Press by phone. “But we can see a plane with loss of support, no horizontal speed. In this flat spin condition, there’s no way to reclaim control of the plane.”
Brazil’s air force said Saturday that both of the plane’s flight recorders had been sent to its analysis laboratory in the capital, Brasilia. The results of its investigations are expected to be published within 30 days, it said.
Marcelo Moura, director of operations for Voepass, told reporters Friday night that while there were forecasts for ice, they were within acceptable levels for the aircraft.
In an earlier statement, the Brazilian air force’s center for the investigation and prevention of air accidents said the plane’s pilots did not call for help or say they were operating under adverse weather conditions.
The ATR 72, which is built by a joint venture of Airbus in France and Italy’s Leonardo SpA. is generally used on shorter flights. Crashes involving various models of the ATR 72 have resulted in 470 deaths going back to the 1990s, according to a database of the Aviation Safety Network.
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Pollastri reported from Vinhedo.
World
Hillary Clinton, George Soros y Denzel Washington recibirán la máxima condecoración civil de EEUU
WASHINGTON (AP) — La exsecretaria de Estado Hillary Clinton, el filántropo demócrata George Soros y el actor-director Denzel Washington recibirán el sábado la más alta condecoración civil de la nación en una ceremonia en la Casa Blanca.
El presidente Joe Biden otorgará la Medalla Presidencial de la Libertad a 19 de los nombres más famosos en política, deportes, entretenimiento, derechos civiles, defensa de los derechos LGBTQ+ y ciencia.
La Casa Blanca indicó que los galardonados han realizado “contribuciones ejemplares a la prosperidad, valores o seguridad de Estados Unidos, la paz mundial u otros significativos esfuerzos sociales, públicos o privados.”
Cuatro medallas serán otorgadas póstumamente. Se entregarán a Fannie Lou Hamer, quien fundó el Partido Democrático de la Libertad de Mississippi y sentó las bases para la Ley de Derechos Electorales de 1965; al ex fiscal general Robert F. Kennedy; a George W. Romney, quien fue gobernador de Michigan y secretario de vivienda y desarrollo urbano; y a Ash Carter, exsecretario de defensa.
Kennedy es padre de Robert F. Kennedy Jr., el nominado por el presidente electo Donald Trump para secretario de salud y servicios humanos. Romney es el padre del exsenador republicano de Utah Mitt Romney, uno de los críticos conservadores más fuertes de Trump.
Entre los grandes filántropos que recibirán el premio se incluye al chef hispanoamericano José Andrés, cuya organización benéfica World Central Kitchen se ha convertido en una de las organizaciones de ayuda alimentaria más reconocidas del mundo, y a Bono, el líder de la banda de rock U2 y activista de justicia social.
Las estrellas de deportes y entretenimiento reconocidas incluyen al futbolista Lionel Messi; al basquetbolista y empresario Earvin “Magic” Johnson; el actor Michael J. Fox, activista a favor de investigaciones sobre la enfermedad de Parkinson; y William Sanford Nye, conocido por generaciones de estudiantes como “Bill Nye the Science Guy”.
Otros galardonados incluyen a la conservacionista Jane Goodall; la editora de Vogue Magazine Anna Wintour; el diseñador de moda Ralph Lauren; el fundador del Instituto de Cine George Stevens Jr.; el empresario y activista LGBTQ+ Tim Gill; y David Rubenstein, cofundador de la firma global de inversiones The Carlyle Group.
El año pasado, Biden otorgó la Medalla Presidencial de la Libertad a 19 personas, incluyendo al fallecido Medgar Evers, la expresidenta de la Cámara de Representantes Nancy Pelosi, el representante James Clyburn de Carolina del Sur y la actriz Michelle Yeoh.
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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
World
Inside Israel’s daring raid that destroyed Iran-funded underground missile factory in Syria
JERUSALEM — Elite Israeli forces conducted a dramatic raid in Syria, destroying a secret underground long-range missile factory that also contained information about Syria’s chemical weapons program in September, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The IDF first revealed the mission Thursday in a call with reporters.
“This is one of our most significant and complex special operations in recent years, even in this complex year and a half,” IDF spokesperson Nadav Shoshani said.
The IDF provided spectacular footage of the Israeli commandos during the daring mission as well as the massive explosion of the subterranean complex after the troops had cleared it.
ISRAELI OFFICIAL REVEALS HOW ‘TO TRULY DEFEAT HEZBOLLAH’
“The precision-guided missile factory or facility was dug into the side of a mountain underground,” the IDF spokesperson said.
Information about Syria’s chemical weapons program was uncovered during the mission.
“I have seen some of them — notebooks and documents — and a lot of them contain very specific chemicals,” Shoshani said. “One of them that I saw was a chemical handbook that describes how to manufacture a missile at the end of the raid. The troops dismantled the facility, including the machines and the manufacturing, to ensure the safety of Israel.”
Assad’s regime repeatedly used chemical weapons on his population during the nearly 14-year civil war that ripped apart the country. The U.S.-designated terrorist movement Hezbollah played a key role in aiding Assad’s regime during the civil war.
IDF FINDS HEZBOLLAH WEAPONS CACHE IN UNDERGROUND TUNNEL: VIDEO
The factory was designed to manufacture between 150-350 missiles a year, including precision-guided missiles (PGM), according to the IDF. Commandoes from the IDF’s elite air force unit Shaldag participated in the mission. The IDF said 30 Syrian soldiers were killed during the operation.
The IDF spokesperson told reporters the operation “was aimed at an Iranian-funded precision-guided missile factory inside Syrian territory near the border with Lebanon. This facility was designed to manufacture hundreds of strategic missiles per year from start to finish for Hezbollah to use in their aerial attacks on Israel and for its Iranian axis in Syria.
“Because of the specific terrain and this facility being underground, we could not operate from the air area. Also, on Sept. 8 last year, 2024, special forces conducted a nighttime targeted raid on the facility. This raid involved over 100 soldiers. There were also dozens of aircraft, including helicopters and other types of aircraft. The forces were flown in by helicopters.”
“I salute our heroic fighters for the daring and successful operation deep in Syria,” Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. “This was one of the most important preventive operations that we have taken against the efforts of the Iranian axis to arm itself in order to attack us; it attests to our boldness and determination to take action everywhere to defend ourselves.”
After the devastating Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas invasion of Israel, which resulted in the murder of more than 1,200 people, including 40 Americans, Israel has faced multi-prong attacks from Iran’s regime — the main sponsor of Hamas, Hezbollah; the Houthis; and the toppled Bashar Assad regime in Syria.
Amit Segal, chief political analyst of Israel’s Channel 12, told Fox News Digital, “The Israeli perspective for years was that Iran operates as an octopus in the Middle East, with the head being the nuclear program in Tehran and the arms being the conventional terrorist organizations surrounding Israel. Netanyahu’s view was that the arms were meant to harass and occupy Israel while the head raced toward nuclear capability, and therefore it was preferable to contain them and focus on the main threat.
“This perception shattered on Oct. 7 when it became clear that the arms were not just a nuisance but an existential threat.”
The complex commando raid on the underground Syrian factory could also be a shot across the bow for the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities embedded in mountains.
“After a year and a quarter dedicated to severing the octopus’s arms, Israel stands in 2025 at a historic crossroads for the confrontation Netanyahu has long sought and for which history will judge him: eliminating the nuclear threat once and for all,” Segal noted.
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The IDF spokesperson said construction on the Syrian missile factory “began at the end of 2017 and ended in 2021 when manufacturing machinery was sent from Iran to the site. Most of the components in the factory were sourced from Iran.”
From October 2023 to November 2024, Hezbollah launched over 17,000 projectiles toward Israel, killing dozens of Israelis, the IDF spokesperson said.
World
Zelenskyy says Trump's unpredictability can end Ukraine war
Trump, who takes office on 20 January, hasn’t publicly fleshed out his policy on Ukraine, but his previous comments have put a question mark over whether the United States will continue to be Ukraine’s biggest military backer.
US President-elect Donald Trump is “strong and unpredictable” and those qualities can be a decisive factor in his policy approach to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
However, Zelenskyy said it won’t be possible to end the almost three years of war in one day, as Trump claimed during his election campaign that he could do.
“The ‘hot’ stage of the war can end quite quickly, if Trump is strong in his position,” Zelenskyy said in a Ukrainian television interview, referring to fighting on the battlefield.
“I believe (Trump) is strong and unpredictable. I would very much like President Trump’s unpredictability to be directed primarily toward the Russian Federation,” Zelenskyy said.
Trump, who takes office on 20 January, hasn’t publicly fleshed out his policy on Ukraine, but his previous comments have put a question mark over whether the United States will continue to be Ukraine’s biggest and most important military backer.
Zelenskyy is eager to guarantee that Washington’s support keeps coming and he met with Trump in New York even before the US presidential election in November.
With the war about to enter its fourth year next month and with Trump about to enter the White House, the question of how and when Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II might end has come to the fore.
Russia controls about one-fifth of Ukraine and capitalised last year on weaknesses in Ukraine’s defences to slowly advance in eastern areas despite high losses of troops and equipment.
The war’s trajectory isn’t in Ukraine’s favour. The country is shorthanded on the front line and needs continued support from its Western partners.
Trump responded favourably to the possibility raised by French President Emmanuel Macron of Western peacekeepers being deployed in Ukraine to oversee an agreement that stops the fighting, Zelenskyy said.
He met with Trump and Macron in Paris last month.
“But I raised an issue, saying we didn’t hear what specific countries will join this initiative and whether the US will be there,” Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian leader is determined for his country to become a NATO member. The alliance’s 32 member countries say that Ukraine will join one day but not until the war ends.
“The deployment of European troops (to keep the peace in Ukraine) should not rule out Ukraine’s future in NATO,” Zelenskyy said in the television interview.
Zelenskyy described the incursion by Ukrainian forces into Russia’s Kursk border region as a “very strong trump card” in any future peace negotiations.
In a bid to counter glum news from the front line, Ukraine seized part of Kursk last August in what was the first occupation of Russian territory since World War II.
But the incursion didn’t significantly change the dynamic of the war and military analysts say Ukraine has lost around 40% of the land it initially captured.
Nevertheless, Zelenskyy said that the achievement impressed countries in Asia, South America and Africa and tarnished Russia’s military reputation.
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