25/12/2025

THURSDAY | DEC 25, 2025

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Blasts shatter US nursing home, killing two o Ground floor collapsed into basement

CARACAS PASSES LAW TO PROTECT NAVIGATION CARACAS: Venezuela’s National Assembly on Tuesday passed a law aimed at guaranteeing and protecting freedom of navigation and trade against piracy, blockades and other illicit international acts, following US seizures of vessels carrying Venezuelan oil in the Caribbean. The “Law to Guarantee Freedom of Navigation and Commerce Against Piracy, Blockades, and Other International Illicit Acts” was declared approved by National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez after the vote. The legislation was passed during an extraordinary session and under urgent procedures, following US seizures of vessels carrying Venezuelan oil on the high seas. It allows prison sentences of up to 20 years for anyone who promotes or finances what it describes as piracy or blockades. – Bernama LOADED SUPERTANKER RETURNS TO PORT CARACAS: Panama-flagged very large crude carrier Kelly, which had departed from Venezuela carrying oil last week, has returned to Venezuelan waters following the US interception of more tankers, monitoring service TankerTrackers.com said on Tuesday. The US Coast Guard on Saturday intercepted the tanker Centuries, which was carrying some 1.9 million barrels of Venezuelan Merey heavy crude, and is pursuing an empty vessel that was on its way to the Opec country. Centuries and Kelly departed almost together escorted by Venezuelan navy ships last week, sources said. Kelly is now back fully loaded in Venezuelan waters near state-run oil company PDVSA’s Amuay port, TankerTrackers.com said. More than a dozen loaded vessels are in Venezuela waiting for new directions from their owners after the US seized the supertanker Skipper earlier this month. – Reuters ZELENSKY SEEKS TO HAMMER OUT SENSITIVE ISSUES

BR I E F S

BRISTOL: A pair of explosions and a fire, apparently sparked by leaking gas, ripped through a nursing home near Philadelphia on Tuesday, killing a female employee and a resident, and injuring 20 people. All residents and staff of the Silver Lake Nursing Home in Bristol Township, about 33km northeast of Philadelphia, have now been accounted for and the injured taken to local hospitals, Police Chief Charles Winik said. Winik said people had been feared missing for a number of hours as flames and blasts gutted the nursing home. Fire Marshal Kevin Dippolito said many patients and staff were initially trapped inside a demolished portion of the building. The Bucks County emergency dispatch centre received first reports of an explosion shortly after 2pm (Wednesday 3am in Malaysia). Dippolito said the first firefighters arriving on the scene encountered “a major structural collapse”, with part of the building’s first floor crumbling into the basement. He said victims were extricated from debris, blocked stairwells and stuck elevators, while firefighters ventured into the collapsed basement zone and pulled at least two more people to safety before retreating amid lingering gas fumes. “We got everyone out that we could, that we could find, that we could see, and we left the building,” Dippolito said.

Firefighters at the nursing home on Tuesday. – REUTERSPIC

KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for a meeting with Donald Trump to hammer out the most sensitive issues in a future peace deal with Russia, such as control of territory, following the latest round of US-Ukrainian talks. He said both delegations had inched closer to finalising a 20-point plan at the talks over the weekend in Miami. “We are ready for a meeting with the United States at the leaders’ level to address sensitive issues. Matters such as territorial questions must be discussed at the leaders’ level.” Kyiv has been pressing Washington to modify a peace plan that, in a draft unveiled last month, echoed Moscow’s main demands that Ukraine cede more territory, renounce future military alliances and accept curbs on its forces. Kyiv says that would leave it defenceless against future attacks. – Reuters Russia, China criticise US conduct towards Venezuela “Within approximately 15 to 30 seconds of us exiting the building, knowing there was a heavy odour of natural gas around us, there was another explosion and fire.” The front of the structure appeared to have been blasted away from the inside, but the majority of the facility remained standing, though most of its windows were shattered, according to a Reuters photographer. News footage from WPVI-TV, an ABC News affiliate, showed roaring flames and smoke billowing from the crippled building shortly after the first explosion. The precise number of patients and staff inside at the time was not immediately known. The nursing home is certified for up to 174 beds, according to an official Medicare provider site. More than 50 patients, ranging in age from 50 to 95, are typically in the building at any one time, WCAU-TV reported, citing a nurse employed by the facility who arrived on the scene after the blast. About five hours later,

nursing home officials had informed authorities that all patients had been accounted for, Dippolito said. – Reuters

NEW YORK: Russia and China on Tuesday criticised the United States for its military and economic pressure on Venezuela, telling the UN Security Council it was “cowboy behaviour” and “intimidation”. Venezuela, which requested the emergency council meeting with the backing of Moscow and Beijing, accused Washington of “the greatest extortion known in our history”. The United States has deployed a major military force in the Caribbean and has recently intercepted oil tankers as part of a naval blockade against Venezuelan vessels it considers to be under sanctions. At Tuesday’s meeting, US Ambassador Mike Waltz responded to the criticism by saying “the United States will do everything in its power to protect our hemisphere, our borders and the American people”. US President Donald Trump accuses

Venezuelan ambassador Samuel Moncada told the council: “We are in the presence of a power that acts outside of international law, demanding that Venezuelans vacate our country and hand it over. This is the greatest extortion known in our history.” Waltz reiterated Trump’s accusations saying “Nicolas Maduro is a fugitive wanted by American justice and the head of the foreign terrorist organisation the Cartel de los Soles .” Experts say there is no evidence of the existence of an organised group with a defined hierarchy that goes by that name. The US government has offered a US$50 million (RM202.58 million) reward for any information leading to the arrest of Maduro. Since September, US forces have launched dozens of airstrikes on boats that Washington alleges were transporting drugs. – AFP

Venezuela of using oil, the South American country’s main resource, to finance “narcoterrorism, human trafficking, murders and kidnappings”. Caracas denies any involvement in drug trafficking and maintains that Washington is seeking to overthrow its president, Nicolas Maduro, to seize Venezuelan oil reserves. “The acts by the US run counter to all norms of international law,” said Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, calling the blockade an “act of aggression”. “The responsibility of Washington is also evident for the catastrophic consequences of such cowboy-like conduct,” he told the council. “China opposes all acts of unilateralism and bullying and supports all countries in defending their sovereignty and national dignity,” said Chinese representative Sun Lei.

Moncada presents Venezuela’s case at the Security Council meeting. – AFPPIC