Search

Abelardo De La Espriella said that Police Colonel Yeison López would be called to account for his responsibility, as he stated, in the escape of 41 detainees for theft, micro-trafficking, and other crimes from the Protection Transfer Center. He also pointed out that López had failed to report the escape in a timely manner and had not taken the appropriate measures in light of the blockage of the Santa Marta–Barranquilla road, which occurred the day before. De La Espriella called for calm in the community and maintained that the escapees were not high-risk criminals. He added that resources were being deployed to locate and recapture them. He indicated that Colonel Urriago, second in command, would temporarily assume command and Colonel Jimmy Belalcázar would arrive that week as the new commander. The author stated that the Public Force should have members willing to confront crime and disturbances, and pointed out that Santa Marta needed leadership, character, and judgment. #SantaMarta #Policía #Seguridad (translated)

The author of the entry wrote that Metro AG was to leave Kazakhstan after 17 years of operation and close all six stores and the delivery service there by the end of March 2027. He stated that the company employed 650 people and entered the Kazakh market in October 2009 as the first international wholesaler in the country. https://t.co/k2iet1WkH0 #MetroAG #Kazachstan #wycofanie #DE #KZ (translated)

Royale Union Saint-Gilloise indicated that Schoofs, Zorgane, Kricfalusi, Hurtevent, and Rodriguez were injured and were not in the squad for the day. The club added that Egel, from their U23 team, was on the bench for the first time. The message also mentioned the team's arrival at Duden Park for a Sunday match. https://t.co/lXxuDeX5HT #DudenPark #voetbal #blessures (translated)

José Mourinho said it pained him to see Vinicius Jr going through a difficult period while striving to perform at his best, win matches and make a difference. He described the young player as extraordinary, adding that Vinicius’s qualities had surprised him and that he worked. https://t.co/J0OZMX7LNQ #ViniciusJr #JoséMourinho #Futebol #BR (translated)

Abelardo De La Espriella said he was continuing, along with the Metropolitan Police of Barranquilla, the investigation into the installation of a flag and cylinders referring to the ELN in Barranquilla and Soledad. He reported that the Police, in coordination with the Prosecutor's Office, captured during a raid alias Kleiver, a member of Los Costeños, who had an outstanding arrest warrant for qualified and aggravated theft. According to De La Espriella, the investigation identified him as the driver of the vehicle used to transport the items. De La Espriella pointed out that the first items were found early in the morning in Ciudadela 20 de Julio, in Barranquilla, and that hours later they found two more cylinders in a parking lot near the Soledad Transportation Terminal. He added that the inspected items did not contain explosives. He affirmed that the operation was ongoing to locate the vehicle and another person who, according to the investigation, participated in the events. He also said that General Sandra Liliana Rodríguez was leading the verifications. De La Espriella maintained that the State should act in a coordinated manner, together with the Public Force, the Prosecutor's Office, and the judiciary, against those he described as narcoterrorists. He said that, while he was president, he would not allow Colombians to be intimidated and that such acts would have a firm response. #Barranquilla #FuerzaPública #Justicia (translated)

Gustavo Petro criticized a senator's attitude towards Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo during a police promotion event to which, he said, the minister had been invited. He also stated that the senator had asked Jaramillo to leave the Senate chamber, despite Petro's belief that he should have been awarded the Cruz de Boyacá, a distinction he claimed to have granted him. Petro attributed improvements in citizens' perceptions of the Police to his government and said that 17,000 patrol officers had been promoted to subinspectors, that their salaries had been increased, and that officers linked to alias Pitufo had been removed from the institution. He added that Jaramillo had pushed for improvements in healthcare for police officers and their families and contributed to building the hospital in southern Bogotá. He claimed that Abelardo had returned the Police's medications to the Char clan. The president maintained that during his government, thefts and domestic violence had decreased and linked this reduction to lower poverty and hunger rates and an increase in the minimum vital wage. He also stated that improvement in economic conditions strengthened families. Petro asked when police and farmers had been seen uprooting coca crops on thousands of hectares planted during Iván Duque's government. He said that trust between the two groups was key to taking Colombia out of drug trafficking. Finally, he accused Abelardo of handing 16 key positions in different branches of the Government to people from his own office to facilitate the massive return of goods seized through asset forfeiture. Petro argued that this situation suggested the construction of a "mafia state" capable of unleashing another Colombian holocaust. #PolíticaColombiana #DerechosHumanos #Progreso (translated)

Cristiano Ronaldo wrote that he had decided to leave the camp rather than wait for another broken promise. He said honesty was the most important part of relationships and that he wanted people to tell him the truth, even when it hurt. He also began referring to a conversation he had had but gave no further details. https://t.co/YedIx6FaQ5 #CristianoRonaldo #Futebol #Verdade #PT (translated)

Gustavo Petro criticized the Council of State for revoking the minimum vital salary and stated that the decision, which he attributed to a magistrate or the full chamber, would reduce internal consumption and could lead Colombia to an economic crisis and violence. He accused the court of acting like an office of the Casa de Nariño and asserted that the measure jeopardized the middle class and could cause widespread poverty and bankruptcies. Petro said that the increase in the minimum wage during his government had reduced poverty and contributed to decreasing thefts, domestic violence, and extortion. He also claimed that the decision disregarded the 1991 Constitution and linked the Council of State with Abelardo, whom he described as a tyrant. The president called on workers from different sectors to mobilize and asked millions of people to take to the streets to demand a vital salary, promote a general strike, and support the people's constituent power. He accused his opponents of declaring war on workers and ended with a call for a free Colombia. https://t.co/EMvqmYeWO2 #SalarioMínimo #Colombia #DerechosLaborales (translated)

Gustavo Petro defended the pension reform and denied that his government had bought support to approve it. He said that the House of Representatives backed it widely and that the then President of the Senate, Iván Name, delayed the debate for eight months so that it would fail due to lack of time. He also accused Magistrate Ibáñez of keeping it frozen for two years in the Constitutional Court, although he pointed out that the reform had already passed that stage. According to Petro, millions of elderly people, many of them from the right, could receive a pension thanks to the law. Regarding the allegations related to the UNGRD, Petro asked the Pacto Histórico bench to commission a forensic audit of the entire existence of the entity, since 2010, and to publish the names of those whom he claimed had embezzled it. He stated that only one person from the Pacto Histórico appeared on the extensive list, whom he said he had removed from the administration and whom, according to him, the party expelled. He also argued that justice should investigate whether Name had received public money through his romantic or political environment. Petro claimed that, during the first month of his government, resources were recovered that he attributed to Olmedo's group and that then the UNGRD was sidelined in the assistance to people trapped after an earthquake in the west of the country. Citing a journalistic investigation by Nueva Prensa, he stated that a private coordination center had been set up in the house of Gregory Schaller, whom he identified as Abelardo's compadre. He linked Andrés Depew, Negre — whom he described as a partner of Fernando Cerimedo — and people who, according to him, had ties to Donald Trump and businessman Dan Newlin to that place. Petro stated that Newlin had illegally lent his plane and resources during Abelardo's campaign. In the same publication, Petro mentioned businessman Yadid Jalaff, whom he said was accused of stealing Colombian-Venezuelan Monómeros, and Jorge Alberto Campillo Vélez, whom he described as one of Pablo Escobar's first pilots. He also pointed out pilot Luis Almeira Quiroz and linked him to a flight of paramilitaries from Urabá to San José del Guaviare, which, according to Petro, allowed the Mapiripán massacre, in which 50 farmers were murdered. He asked how much money had been raised to address the earthquake and if that explained why, according to him, the full operation of the UNGRD had been prevented and international aid and volunteers had been rejected. https://t.co/eiJJnl3Lxu #ReformaPensional #Justicia #Corrupción (translated)

The author argued that Lula faced a difficult path to victory in the Oct. 25 runoff, saying further scandals involving Flávio Bolsonaro were unlikely to damage him. They added that most candidates would have lost support in the polls after scandals such as an audio recording of Flávio asking Daniel for money. #Lula #Eleições2023 #Brasil #BR

Mr. Cezary Krysztopa assessed that Karol Nawrocki stepped back to encourage Donald Tusk to show how he intends to lower fuel prices. He claimed that Tusk did not need the president's signature to reduce VAT and excise tax, and that a drop in prices could also be achieved by limiting Orlen's margins. Krysztopa questioned the connection between the “excess profits” law and fuel prices and called it unconstitutional. He warned that companies could pass its costs onto customers. Referring to explanations that high fuel prices were a result of Trump's war with Iran, he admitted that the conflict had raised wholesale oil prices but pointed out that they were higher when Tusk spoke of gasoline at 5.19 PLN per liter. According to Krysztopa, wholesale prices were currently lower. The author accused Tusk of avoiding information about the budget's state and attributed the catastrophe of public finances to him. He cited the downgrade by Moody’s, which he described as the first in over twenty years, and claimed that the decline in tax revenues was due to tolerance of VAT fraud and abuse in the fuel market. Krysztopa predicted that the announced price reduction would amount to about one zloty, after which prices would rise again, and later there would be a lack of funds for further actions. He also criticized Tusk's supporters for their joy over PiS's political defeat, using vulgar terms towards them, and expressed hope for a way out of the current situation. #Polska #paliwo #Tusk (translated)

I'm already a bit tired of this war Nawrocki–Tusk over who wants to lower fuel prices more and who will hit their opponent harder. On a daily basis, I deal with law and legislation, so instead of another press conference, I prefer to try to do something more useful. Let's think about whether it is possible to create a mechanism that works independently of who is currently in power and who lives in the Presidential Palace. Let's tentatively call it the Fuel Price Stabilization Mechanism - nothing more spectacular comes to mind. I’m not talking about flashy slogans like administrative price setting or the prime minister should lower it, or the president presented a bill, so the problem is solved. I’m talking about an automatic system established in law. I imagined it so that if for a certain period, the reference price of oil or wholesale fuel exceeds a set threshold, a temporary reduction in excise tax is automatically triggered. Without a political decision being made anew each time, because that leads to endless arguments at the expense of citizens. The law specifies in advance: - when the mechanism is triggered, - by how much the burden is reduced, - how long it operates, - when it automatically expires. Of course, within the limits of EU law. Because it is worth reminding a rather prosaic fact - a member state cannot arbitrarily eliminate fuel taxation. Here the 2003/96/EC directive comes in, determining minimum levels of taxation for gasoline and diesel. So just as it should be done - first the law and only then the slogans - I’m directing this to my favorite camp, the surroundings of the office. Now there remains a more important problem. If we lower the excise tax, the budget receives less money. This cost does not disappear, it does not magically evaporate. You can't just move it to the "someone may pay later" column. That’s why the mechanism should have a second arm - a temporary levy on the truly extraordinary portion of profits in the fuel sector. But not on the entire profit and definitely not on the normal operation of the enterprise. Not because the company dared to make a profit but solely from that portion that exceeds the previously defined reference level. The current government project wants to use a similar construct - the reference point is margins from 2025 increased by 20%, and only the excess is taxed. The tax rate in the project is 60%, and the projected revenues are about 4 billion PLN. The government indicates that the funds are meant to compensate for the loss of VAT and excise tax revenue resulting from protective actions. However, I would change one fundamental thing. Only PROSPECTIVELY. First, we establish the rule, then we apply it. Not the other way around. This significantly reduces the dispute over retroactivity and legal safety - the reason for Mr. Nawrocki's veto. Revenues from such a levy should be additionally separated and accounted for solely for the purposes of the stabilization mechanism. Then we can show the citizen a simple calculation: - the budget lost X from the temporary excise tax reduction, - the extraordinary levy brought Y, - and the difference is Z. No miracles or political alchemy - simplicity in full scope. But there is still one problem. If the state reduces the burden by 20 groszy per liter, it doesn’t automatically mean that the driver will see 20 groszy less on the sign. Part of the relief may be taken by the margin because who doesn’t want to make a profit... That’s why there should be parallel, public monitoring: - raw material price, - wholesale price, - taxes, - average margin, - retail price. If there is an anomaly, we have UOKiK and competition law instruments. There’s no need to immediately create a state office to set the price of diesel at 7:43 in the morning. And a final safeguard. The price returns below the statutory threshold for a certain period? The reduction expires, the levy expires. The system returns to normal mode. #ustawy #ceny #paliwa (translated)