EL PAIS English Edition 16 December 2023 : Gaza War to last "several months" and more...

 

Gaza war to last "several months" EL PAÍS USA EDITION

Dear readers,‌ ‌ On Thursday, Israel thanked the United States for its support in the form of arms for the war in Gaza and for vetoing a possible UN call for a ceasefire, despite international pressure. Joe Biden has warned that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is losing support because of the heavy bombardments in the Strip, which the U.S. president described as “indiscriminate” and which have already killed over 18,500 people. However, despite Washington’s desire for a swift end to the conflict, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that there is no end in sight to the fighting. “Hamas is a terrorist organization with an infrastructure underground and on the ground that is not easy to destroy. It will require a period of time of more than several months, but we will win, and we will destroy them." ‌ EL PAÍS interviewed Rahul Gupta, Washington’s drug czar and the first doctor to hold the position in U.S. history.  The director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy is in charge of combating the opioid epidemic, which resulted in nearly 110,000 overdose deaths in the country in 2022. Gupta is an advocate of a policy of “harm reduction,” a three-pronged approach that includes making anti-overdose drugs widely available. “Under this administration, we have made naloxone available over the counter, sitting in pharmacies right next to Tylenol and Motrin. But we are also encouraging schools, malls, public places to make sure that they keep making Narcan or naloxone available just like a fire extinguisher or a defibrillator device. Because at the end of the day, they save lives.” ‌ At the COP28 Summit in Dubai, almost 200 countries signed an agreement that for the first time makes explicit mention of the need to transition away from oil, coal and gas, the main causes of climate change. Until now, the emphasis had been placed on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while ignoring the fact that fossil fuels are what cause them. The document represents a historic agreement to the extent that it proposes “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems in a just, orderly and equitable manner” and “accelerating action in this critical decade” to achieve net zero emissions in 2050.  ‌ We hope you enjoy this selection of articles from EL PAÍS USA Edition.

Israel warns that the war in Gaza to defeat Hamas will take several months Netanyahu tries to iron out differences with the United States, thanking it for delivering weapons for the war and vetoing the UN call for a ceasefire

Ukraine faces a long process of negotiations to join the EU Kyiv has rapidly reformed a multitude of laws over the past two years so that the European Council would give free rein to discussions over membership of the bloc

Biden’s drug czar: ‘We need China to be more aggressive against fentanyl’ Rahul Gupta is the first doctor to hold the position in U.S. history. ‘The overdose death curve is flattening,’ he says in an interview with EL PAÍS

Historic climate agreement The Dubai summit points out a path that seemed impossible to travel: the end of oil, coal and gas

Guyana, the small country swimming in oil is now in Maduro’s sights The country that Venezuela is confronting over the Essequibo region registers the highest economic growth in the world thanks to the discovery of crude oil deposits

Spain expels two US spies for infiltrating secret service The Spanish government has spoken to the U.S. ambassador about its concern regarding the hostile actions, which are not expected between two allies

Mathematician Marcus du Sautoy: ‘There is a possibility that artificial intelligence will become conscious’ The Oxford University professor posits the emergence of ‘a new species’ stemming from algorithms

Gita Gopinath: ‘We can little afford another Cold War’ When China, the U.S. or the EU imposes a restrictive trade measure on another, there’s a 73% probability that they will respond with a retaliatory measure within 12 months, says the deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund

28 European soccer teams ignored Ukraine war sanctions in player trades with Russian clubs Real Sociedad, PSV, Olympique and Salzburg have conducted transactions with teams linked to oligarchs or Kremlin-affiliated banks

The eternal return of Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex One year after the debut of the Netflix documentary in which they gave their version of the breakup with the British royal family, a trial and a book return the ‘exiled’ couple, now living in California, back into the spotlight