Vladimir Putin has formally begun his fifth term as Russia’s president in a carefully choreographed inauguration ceremony, in a country he has shaped in his image after first taking office nearly a quarter of a century ago.

Putin won Russia’s stage-managed election by an overwhelming majority in March, securing for himself another six-year term that could see him rule until at least his 77th birthday.

With most opposition candidates either dead, jailed, exiled or barred from running – and with dissent effectively outlawed in Russia since it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 – Putin faced no credible challenge to his rule.

The inauguration ceremony, held Tuesday in the Kremlin, was attended by Russia’s top military and political brass, but the United States and many European nations declined to send a representative after dismissing Russia’s elections as a sham.

“We certainly did not consider that election free and fair, but he is the president of Russia and is going to continue in that capacity,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Monday.

Putin’s first inauguration ceremony, held in 2000, was heralded as the first time in Russia’s history that power within the Kremlin changed hands through an electoral process. In his speech then, Putin said his election “proved that Russia is becoming a modern democratic state.”

Twenty-four years on, Putin has since remained in power as president or prime minister, and tinkered with Russia’s constitution to remove term limits and extend each term’s length from four years to six.

While Putin received 53% of the vote in the 2000 presidential election, deemed by the US Embassy in Moscow to be “reasonably” free and fair, he won 87% in March’s election – a figure the US called “farcical.”

In the days after March’s vote, Putin appeared on stage in Moscow’s Red Square alongside the three opponents allowed to run against him. The men sang Russia’s national anthem shoulder to shoulder, as if to confirm the illusion of competition.

In a terse speech Tuesday, held the day after he again rattled his saber by announcing a non-strategic nuclear weapons exercise, Putin said Russia does not refuse dialogue with Western countries, but “the choice is theirs” whether to pursue aggression or peace.

“Do they intend to continue trying to restrain the development of Russia, continue the policy of aggression, continuous pressure on our country for years, or look for a path to cooperation and peace?”

Among those in the audience were the Russian-installed leaders of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – four occupied regions of Ukraine annexed by Russia in 2022.

Putin’s inauguration comes as Russia is attempting to press home its vast manpower and ammunition advantages in Ukraine before the bulk of a long-delayed US aid package arrives to bolster Kyiv’s depleted forces.

Putin has strived to keep Russians isolated from the effects of the war, by recruiting soldiers from Russia’s prisons and more rural regions and trying to keep its urban centers stuffed with goods despite Western sanctions.

But pockets of dissent have pierced the veneer of normality. The most direct challenge to Putin’s rule was made by then-Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin who, angered by Russian military blunders in Ukraine, ordered his mercenaries to march on Moscow in a bizarre spectacle that briefly threatened to undermine Putin’s monopoly on power. Within 24 hours, Prigozhin had called off his mutiny. Two months later, he was confirmed dead in a plane crash. The Kremlin denied involvement in the incident.

Alexey Navalny, Putin’s most formidable political opponent, also died before the most recent election. Navalny died in an Arctic prison in February after he “felt unwell after a walk” and lost consciousness “almost immediately,” Russia’s prison service said. The Kremlin denied involvement.

Putin’s invasion has reshaped the world’s post-Cold War geopolitical axes, prompting the West to treat Russia as a pariah state after decades of more amicable relations.

But Russia has tried to forge new partnerships with countries in the “Global South,” including delivering grain to African countries after trying repeatedly to cut off Ukraine’s ability to export its own produce.

To ensure it has enough drones and missiles to bombard Ukraine, Russia has also entered into deeper partnerships with Iran and North Korea.

“We have been and will be open to strengthening good relations with all countries that see Russia as a reliable and honest partner. And this is truly the global majority,” Putin said Tuesday.

After officially taking office, Putin will attend a parade of the Presidential Regiment on Cathedral Square in the Kremlin. The regiment is Russia’s most famous elite military unit, state media reported, and military personnel of the regiment perform functions throughout the ceremonial events of the inauguration.

Five people have died and 49 are unaccounted for after a multi-story building collapsed Monday afternoon in the South African city of George, officials said Tuesday.

Rescue missions remain underway, and 26 people have been removed from the rubble since the building collapsed in the Western cape province around 2 p.m. local time (8 a.m. ET) on Monday, George Municipality said in a statement.

“Three teams of rescue personnel are currently working on three different areas within the site of the collapsed building,” the statement said.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa offered his condolences in a statement from his office Tuesday, saying, “The President’s thoughts are with the families who have lost loved ones as well as the families of close to 50 people who are trapped in the rubble.”

Ramaphosa also called for an investigation into how the incident happened, to “bring closure to the community and prevent a repeat of this disaster.” the statement said.

Two NASA astronauts have reached the final hours before a long-awaited launch attempt aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule, marking the first crewed mission of the brand-new spacecraft.

Starliner — which the aerospace giant designed to rival SpaceX’s prolific Crew Dragon capsule — is set to take off for its inaugural crewed test run at 10:34 p.m. ET Monday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Weather or technical issues can always force a rocket launch to scrub all the way up until the countdown clock strikes zero, but the forecast for this evening is as good as it gets. Weather officials have said there’s only a 5% chance that clouds, winds or storms will interrupt tonight’s takeoff.

This mission, dubbed the Crew Flight Test, could be the final major milestone before NASA deems Boeing’s spacecraft ready for routine operations as part of the federal agency’s Commercial Crew Program. The Starliner would join SpaceX’s Crew Dragon in NASA’s push to collaborate with private industry partners, expanding the United States’ options for ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station.

The mission crew members are veteran astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, each of whom has ventured to space on two previous journeys aboard NASA space shuttle and Russian Soyuz missions.

“They’re checking out a lot of the systems: the life support, the manual control,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during a Friday news conference. “That’s why we put two test pilots on board — and of course the résumés of Butch and Suni are extensive.”

This would mark only the sixth maiden voyage of a crewed spacecraft in US history, Nelson noted: “It started with Mercury, then with Gemini, then with Apollo, the space shuttle, then (SpaceX’s) Dragon — and now Starliner.”

Williams will also become the first woman ever to join such a mission.

What to expect

If all goes to plan, the crew will board the Starliner capsule and lift off atop an Atlas V rocket Monday night. The spacecraft — carrying the astronauts — will break away from the rocket after reaching orbit and begin firing its own engines. The Starliner will then spend more than 24 hours gradually making its way to the space station, where the vehicle is expected to dock at 12:46 a.m. ET Wednesday.

Williams and Wilmore are set to spend about a week aboard the orbiting laboratory, joining the seven astronauts and cosmonauts already on board, while the Starliner remains docked outside.

The two will then return home aboard the same Starliner capsule, which is expected to parachute to a landing at one of several designated locations across the southwestern United States.

Boeing vs. SpaceX

Much is riding on a smooth test flight. NASA has been waiting half a decade for Starliner to begin flying crew, and the development of Starliner was beset by years of delays, setbacks and blunders. More broadly, Boeing as a company has suffered years of scandals in its aircraft division that have tarnished the legacy aerospace giant’s brand.

“We got through a pretty rigorous process to get here,” said Mark Nappi, vice president and Starliner program manager at Boeing, of the development process during the Friday briefing. “And really where my source of confidence comes from is going through that process.”

If successful, the Crew Test Flight could queue up Boeing to begin flying routine trips to the space station on NASA’s behalf.

The US space agency selected Boeing to develop Starliner — alongside SpaceX and its Crew Dragon capsule — in 2014, hoping the commercial companies could create complementary new means of ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station after the space shuttle program retired in 2011.

SpaceX ultimately beat Boeing to the launchpad, carrying out its crewed flight test of the Crew Dragon capsule in May 2020. SpaceX has handled most of NASA’s crew transportation needs since then.

“We cheer for SpaceX. That’s something that is very important to our country and very important to NASA to have that access.” Nappi said during a March news briefing. “And we’re looking forward to providing (astronaut transportation services) as well.”

Israel said the terms of a ceasefire deal Hamas accepted on Monday remained “far from” meeting its demands and warned its military operations in Rafah would continue, even as it sent negotiators to talk to mediators.

In a statement Monday, Hamas said the head of its political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, told the Qatari prime minister and Egyptian intelligence minister that the militant group had accepted their proposals for a ceasefire and hostage deal.

Palestinians celebrated that statement in the streets of Gaza, while in Tel Aviv, hostage families and their supporters implored Israel’s leaders to accept the deal.

However, shortly afterwards, Israel said the terms Hamas had accepted were still far from meeting its “requirements,” and reiterated its commitment to an offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, saying its war cabinet had “unanimously decided” to continue with the operation “to exert military pressure on Hamas.” It did agree, though, to send a delegation to the mediators for further talks.

The news comes just hours after Israel ordered Palestinians living in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, to “evacuate immediately.”

The order raised fears that Israel’s long-threatened assault on the city could be imminent. More than 1 million Palestinians have fled to Rafah, where Hamas is believed to have regrouped after Israel’s destruction of much of the north of Gaza.

The Biden administration remains opposed to Israel going into Rafah, White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

No agreement

Ceasefire talks will continue on Tuesday, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Dr. Majed bin Mohammed Al-Ansari said in a statement early on Tuesday local time.

The Qatari delegation will head to Cairo on Tuesday morning to continue indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas after Hamas sent a response to mediators involved in the ceasefire proposal which “can be described as positive,” he said.

The Qatari announcement comes amid international calls for an agreement to be reached on a ceasefire and hostage release deal. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called on the Israeli government and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire deal after the announcement by Hamas.

A senior Israeli and a senior US official said that Hamas had agreed to a framework proposal, which diverges from the one Israel had helped craft with Egypt. The latest proposal calls for an end to the war, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously said he will not accept, the senior American official said.

According to a press release, Hamas said it would not back down from its demands in the latest proposal, which include a “ceasefire, complete withdrawal, dignified exchange, reconstruction, and lifting of the blockade.”

Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet, said Monday there were “significant gaps” between Israel and Hamas. “Despite this, we continue to turn over every stone and a delegation will go to Cairo.”

A previous framework, which Israel helped craft but had not fully agreed to, called for the release of between 20 and 33 hostages over several weeks in exchange for a temporary ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

After the initial exchange, according to that framework, there would follow what sources describe as the “restoration of sustainable calm” during which the remaining hostages, captive Israeli soldiers and the bodies of hostages would be exchanged for more Palestinian prisoners.

The White House on Monday confirmed that there had “been a response from Hamas” to a proposed hostage deal in Israel, and that US President Joe Biden had been briefed on that response, but otherwise declined to weigh in specifically on what a deal could entail.

Biden is “aware of where the situation and where the process is,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told a press briefing. CIA Director Bill Burns remains in the region “working in real time on the ground,” Kirby added.

“We still believe that reaching an agreement is the absolute best outcome not only for the hostages, but for the Palestinian people and we’re not going to stop working to that outcome,” he said.

IDF operations ongoing

Asked whether Hamas’ acceptance of a deal could change Israel’s plans for Rafah, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the military would continue to operate in Gaza. He said operations are ongoing, but that the IDF is making every effort in the negotiations to bring the hostages home as “fast as possible.”

Netanyahu has come under fierce pressure from the more extreme wing of his coalition not to accept the ceasefire proposal outlined last week, and to focus instead on destroying Hamas in Rafah.

Orit Strook, Israel’s settlements minister and a member of the far-right Religious Zionism party, said last week that accepting the deal would “throw” Israel’s military progress “in the trash.”

Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, said Netanyahu had “promised that Israel would enter Rafah, assured that the war would not end, and pledged that there would be no reckless deal.”

But large parts of the Israeli public have demanded Netanyahu accept a deal. Families and supporters of the hostages blocked the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv last week, holding a banner reading: “Rafah or the hostages – choose life.”

Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet but seen as a rival and possible successor to Netanyahu, said the return of hostages was more urgent that entering Rafah.

Responding to Monday’s announcement by Hamas, the Hostages Families Forum said: “Now is the time for all that are involved, to fulfil their commitment and turn this opportunity into a deal for the return of all the hostages.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The husband of Ana Maria Knezevich Henao, a woman who was reported missing while in Spain in February, has been arrested in Florida, the FBI confirmed Monday.

David Knezevich, 36, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is in federal custody for his alleged involvement in his wife’s kidnapping on or about February 2, 2024, according to FBI spokesperson James Marshall.

His arrest was made without incident Saturday by the Diplomatic Security Service and the FBI at Miami International Airport, Marshall said. Knezevich has not yet had his initial appearance in Miami Federal Court, according to court records.

The Spanish National Police, US Customs and Border Protection, the Diplomatic Security Service, and the FBI are continuing their investigations.

Knezevich Henao, 40, was reported missing in February after she failed to meet a friend in Madrid.

Knezevich Henao’s friend, Sanna Rameau, said she last exchanged messages with her on February 2.

Around the time she went missing, Rameau said she received a WhatsApp message from Knezevich Henao which read: “I met someone wonderful!! He has a summer house about 2h (hours) from Madrid. We are going there now and I will spend a few days there. Signal is spotty. I’ll call you when I get back.”

The cameras disabled were at the entrance of the building and near the elevator, the superintendent said. It’s unclear if the incident is related to her disappearance.

An Indian judge has dismissed a woman’s complaint that her husband committed “unnatural sex,” because under Indian law it’s not illegal for a husband to force his wife to engage in sexual acts.

The ruling, made in the Madhya Pradesh High Court last week, shines a light on a legal loophole in India that doesn’t criminalize marital rape by a husband against his wife, if she’s over age 18.

Campaigners have been trying to change the law for years, but they say they’re up against conservatives who argue that state interference could destroy the tradition of marriage in India.

A challenge to the law has been winding its way through the country’s courtrooms, with the Delhi High Court delivering a split verdict on the issue in 2022, prompting lawyers to file an appeal in the country’s Supreme Court that is still waiting to be heard.

According to the Madhya Pradesh High Court order, the woman told police her husband came to her house in 2019, soon after they were married, and committed “unnatural sex,” under Section 377 of India’s penal code.

The offense includes non-consensual “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal,” and was historically used to prosecute same sex couples who engaged in consensual sex, before the Supreme Court decriminalized homosexuality in 2018

According to court documents, the woman alleged the act happened “on multiple occasions,” and that her husband had threatened to divorce her if she told anyone about it. She finally came forward after telling her mother, who encouraged her to file a complaint in 2022, the court heard.

The husband challenged his wife’s complaint in court, with his lawyer claiming that any “unnatural sex” between the couple was not criminal as they are married.

Delivering his judgement, Justice Gurpal Singh Ahluwalia pointed to India’s marital rape exemption, which does not make it a crime for a man to force sex on his wife, a relic of British rule more than 70 years after independence.

“When rape includes insertion of penis in the mouth, urethra or anus of a woman and if that act is committed with his wife, not below the age of fifteen years, then consent of the wife becomes immaterial … Marital rape has not been recognized so far,” the judge said.

India’s Supreme Court increased marital consent from the age of 15 to 18 in a landmark judgement in 2017.

The woman also accused her in-laws of mental and physical harassment “on account of nonfulfilment of demand of dowry,” the court order said. A trial is pending.

Ahluwalia’s remarks have once again raised questions over India’s treatment of women, who continue to face the threat of violence and discrimination in the deeply patriarchal society.

The world’s largest democracy of 1.4 billion has made significant strides in enacting laws to better safeguard women, but lawyers and campaigners say its reluctance to criminalize marital rape leaves women without adequate protection.

According to the 2019-2021 National Family Health Survey by the Government of India, 17.6% of more than 100,000 women ages 15-49 surveyed said they were unable to say no to their husband if they didn’t want sex, while 11% thought husbands were justified in hitting or beating his wife if she refused.

Women alleging rape in India have some avenues of potential legal action against their husbands.

For example, they can seek a restraining order under civil law or charges under Section 354 of India’s Penal Code, which covers sexual assault short of rape, and Section 498A, which covers domestic violence.

Many married women are also ignored when they try to file a police complaint, a 2022 study showed.

The study examined records from three Mumbai public hospitals from 2008 to 2017 and found that of 1,664 rape survivors, no rape cases were filed by police. At least 18 of those women reported marital rape to the police, including 10 women who alleged rape by a former partner or husband.

Four women were explicitly told by police that they could not do anything as marital rape was not a crime, the report said.

Gazans began leaving eastern Rafah on Monday after Israel’s military issued a call for residents there to “evacuate immediately,” raising questions over whether Israel will soon carry out its long-threatened assault on the city.

During nearly seven months of war, more than 1 million Palestinians have fled to Rafah, where Hamas is believed to have regrouped after Israel’s destruction of much of the strip’s north.

The city has become the central focus of the war as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces growing pressure from the extreme wing of his coalition to launch a full-scale ground operation on Rafah to destroy Hamas, while the more moderate wing has urged him to prioritize securing a ceasefire-for-hostages deal.

It’s unclear whether the evacuation order signals a prelude to an assault, but the order came a day after Israel’s defense minister told troops inside Gaza to expect “intense action in Rafah in the near future.”

Children were seen sitting among tanks of fuel and plastic bags filled with possessions, while families left with mattresses strapped to the roof of their cars.

Avichay Adraee, head of the Arab media division of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, wrote, “For your safety, the Defense Army urges you to evacuate immediately to the expanded humanitarian area at the checkpoints.”

Adraee made “an urgent call” to people who were residing in “the municipality of Al-Shawka and in the neighborhoods — Al-Salam, Al-Jneina, Tiba Zaraa, and Al-Bayouk in the Rafah area.”

Israel has ordered Palestinians to leave to Al-Mawasi, a coastal town near the city of Khan Younis, where an “expanded humanitarian area” has been created.

“I don’t want to witness what people will do. I will just leave,” Eweida said.

The main United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has warned that Al-Mawasi is not appropriate for habitation.

Israel’s constant bombardment of Gaza since October 7 has devastated the besieged enclave, reducing whole neighborhoods to rubble, throttling food, fuel and water supplies, and forcibly displacing many of those seeking shelter in Rafah multiple times in the seven months of war.

Aid agencies have been warning Israel against launching a full-scale ground invasion of Rafah, saying “any ground operation would mean more suffering and death” for the 1.2 million displaced Palestinians sheltering in and around the city, OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke told journalists in Geneva.

Northern Gaza is already experiencing a “full-blown famine” which is rapidly spreading across the strip, the World Food Programme warned over the weekend.

Meanwhile, Israel is continuing its aerial bombardment of the city. At least 26 people there, including babies and children, were killed in airstrikes overnight into Monday, in an attack targeting 11 houses in a residential area, Gaza’s Civil Defense said. Eight more people were killed in strikes in other parts of Gaza, according to local officials.

Israel has repeatedly signaled plans to send troops into Rafah, a southern city on the border with Egypt, where more than a million displaced Palestinians are believed to have taken refuge since October 7.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant told troops Sunday morning inside Gaza to expect “intense action in Rafah in the near future, and in other places all over the strip,” because – as he put it – Hamas does not intend to reach an agreement on hostages and a ceasefire.

The announcement came a day after Israel closed the Kerem Shalom border crossing to humanitarian trucks after it was hit by at least 10 rockets on Sunday morning, according to the IDF. The crossing has been central to getting aid into Gaza.

Three IDF soldiers were killed and three critically injured in the rocket attack which was claimed by Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades.

It was not clear whether the call for evacuation was in response to the attack at Kerem Shalom, and the border crossing remained closed on Monday.

Colonel Nadav Shoshani, the IDF’s international spokesperson, said in a briefing Monday that Israel’s evacuation order was a “limited scope operation to temporarily evacuate” and “not wide-scale evacuation.”

Flyers dropped from the air

The IDF would also not put an exact timeframe for how long people in eastern Rafah have to evacuate or offer assurances that the area they would move to would not be shelled.

“We’re having real-time situational assessments and assessing the situation,” said the IDF’s Shoshani.

He said the current evacuation impacts about 100,000 people.

Previous orders from Israel to evacuate parts of Gaza ahead of military operations have been met with criticism from the United Nations and humanitarian groups, which have repeatedly said there is no safe space in the strip for people to flee to.

The IDF said it dropped flyers into eastern Rafah to residents and people sheltering “in the Rafah Camp, the Brazil Camp and the neighborhoods Al-Shabura and Al-Zohour” to evacuate as “remaining in these areas puts your lives in danger.”

It directed residents toward Al-Mawasi, a narrow, barren, coastal strip to the west of Khan Younis, that has been designated by Israel as an “expanded humanitarian area.”

However, there is little relief from Israeli bombs or respite from the humanitarian catastrophe throughout the strip, where malnutrition is rapidly spreading and more than 34,600 people have been killed since October, according to Palestinian authorities in Gaza.

In January, 14 people including children were killed by an Israeli airstrike on a house in Al-Mawasi, local authorities said.

And areas once designated safe zones by the Israeli military have been decimated once forces move in. Early in the war, the Israeli military designated Khan Younis as a safer zone and told residents from northern Gaza to seek shelter there. But as the IDF pushed to the south, Khan Younis became its next focus and the city was left devastated.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said it is “not evacuating” and that the agency “will maintain a presence in Rafah as long as possible and will continue providing lifesaving aid to people.”

Wael Abu Omar, the UNRWA media director at the Rafah crossing said, “Until now, the Rafah land crossing has not been closed to passenger traffic. Truck movement and aid entry have been halted at the Rafah commercial and Kerem Shalom crossings since yesterday afternoon.”

Correction: This article was updated to remove a quote erroneously attributed to an IDF spokesperson saying residents “have days at least to move.” The spokesperson did not give a timeline.

José Raúl Mulino, a rightwing former public security minister, was declared the “unofficial” winner of Panama’s presidential election on Sunday, the country’s electoral court confirmed.

With over 90% of the total vote counted, Mulino secured about 34% of the ballots. His next closest rival, Ricardo Lombana, took second place with about 25%.

Mulino has pledged to return the country to its economic heyday and to tackle high unemployment with a plan to incentivize private hiring with government funds.

The Central American nation of 4.4 million people, once a GDP leader in the region, is at the crossroads international trade and migration in the region but faces a range of pressing issues from high inflation and unemployment to corruption and water access.

“I receive with joy these results, which are the will of the majority of the Panamanian people in our democracy, which I assume with great responsibility and humility as a Panamanian,” Mulino said during his victory speech.

He originally ran as the vice-presidential candidate of former President Ricardo Martinelli. After a court sentenced Martinelli to 11 years in prison for money laundering, Mulino moved to the top of the ticket.

Martinelli has been holed up in the Nicaraguan embassy in Panama’s capital after he sought asylum following his sentencing. The former leader continued to play a role in the race by endorsing and supporting his former vice-presidential pick.

Mulino, who is widely seen as having inherited Martinelli’s popular support, thanked the former president in his victory speech.

“To Ricardo Martinelli: my friend, mission accomplished Ricardo. When you invited me to be vice president, I did not imagine this scenario, but it was my turn, and I took it on with enormous responsibility and humility,” he said.

Political pundits have dubbed the election “the most important since after the US invasion” in 1989.

Mulino will take over a country that is polarized and fraught with politician tension and uncertainties.

Panama’s economy has slowed dramatically in recent years, with the IMF forecasting GDP growth of only 2.5 percent this year, down from 7.3 percent last year. In March, credit agency Fitch downgraded Panama’s rating to junk status citing “fiscal and governance challenges” after the country closed its largest mine last year.

Mulino has also vowed to shut down the Darién Gap, the treacherous stretch of jungle beginning in Panama that’s become a main highway for migrants making their way to the US.

More than half a million migrants, mostly from Venezuela, crossed through the Darién Gap in 2023, according to the Panamanian government, doubling the amount recorded in 2022.

The US has been working for months with officials in Panama and Colombia, where the jungle ends, to attempt to shut down the route. But Mulino has not said how he would carry out a closure of the jungle to migrants.

Water access also topped voter’s minds during the vote, analysts say. Droughts exacerbated by El Nino have made access to potable water scarce in some regions and reduced the capacity of the Panama Canal, a centerpiece of the country’s GDP.

Three bodies found dumped in a well with gunshot wounds to the head have been confirmed as missing tourists, including a US citizen, Mexican authorities said Sunday.

Relatives of American Jack Carter Rhoad and Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson identified their bodies without having to perform genetic tests, the Baja California Attorney General’s office said in a statement on Sunday.

Three Mexican citizens previously questioned in relation to their disappearance have been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, the attorney general’s office said. One of the suspects was identified as Jesús Gerardo “N,” alias “El Kekas.”

The three friends were on a surfing and camping trip near the town of Ensenada, about 60 miles south of the border city of Tijuana, when they went missing on April 29, and are believed to have been murdered, according to authorities.

Baja California Attorney General Maria Elena Andrade Ramirez met with parents of the victims on Sunday and “reaffirmed the institution’s total commitment to continue the investigation into these unfortunate events until those responsible are fully prosecuted by the law,” she said.

The surfers may have been attacked in an attempted vehicle robbery, officials said, citing preliminary investigations. Baja California has been plagued by cartel violence in recent years, though it rarely occurs in tourist areas like Ensenada.

‘Infectious spirit’

The confirmation of the surfers’ deaths is heartbreaking news for desperate relatives who had flown to Mexico hoping for better news – and for their friends back home.

The siblings went to Coachella music festival a week before they crossed into Mexico with their American friend, planning “to surf for a few days,” parents Martin and Debra Robinson said last week.

“Callum and Jake are beautiful human beings. We love them so much and this breaks our heart,” they said in a statement before departing Perth, Western Australia.

Callum, 33, was a member of Australia’s national lacrosse team and a Stevenson University alumnus. He was based in San Diego, California.

In an Instagram post, the Maryland college said, “Callum will be remembered for his infectious spirit and larger-than-life personality.”

“With his beautiful long hair and charming smile, he truly embodied the nickname ‘big koala’— warm, friendly, and always there to lend a helping hand,” the post said. “Though he may be gone, Callum’s legacy will live on in our hearts forever.”

She said she saw him on the morning he left for Mexico, but quickly felt something was wrong when she didn’t hear from him.

“I don’t know what’s going on but I think he’s mad at me, like something doesn’t seem right,” she said.

‘We need security’

While parts of Mexico are established tourist destinations, violent crime including kidnapping and human trafficking plague parts of the country, particularly in border areas. Mexico’s homicide rate is among the highest in the world, and more than 100,000 people remain missing in the country.

Drug cartels have terrorized the country with ever-increasing levels of violence and cruelty, fueled in part by huge demand for drugs from US consumers and armed with an arsenal of weaponry from north of the border.

In 2015, the bodies of Australian surfers Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman were found in a burned-out van in Sinaloa state. Authorities said they were killed by low-level drug dealers who had been robbing motorists.

The latest suspected murders sparked outrage in the surf community of Ensenda, where about 500 people marched on Sunday to call for justice and better security, Australian public broadcaster ABC reported.

“We are here in solidarity with our friends from Australia and the United States,” local surfer Héctor Estrada told the ABC.

“We are a big community of surfers all over the world and we need security, we need the beaches to be safe [for] camping around, surfing or just playing with your family, friends.”

Another resident, Ana Acosta, told the ABC: “I’m asking for justice and security from the government and for the state to provide to us surfers.”

In a statement Sunday, Mexico’s Foreign Ministry expressed its condolences over the suspected killings.

“The Foreign Ministry stands in solidarity with the families of the victims in this tragic event and deeply regrets the outcome of the events,” it said.

This story has been updated with additional information.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday warned the International Criminal Court against potentially issuing arrest warrants against Israeli leaders and commanders as a result of its investigation into the war in Gaza, saying that doing so would leave an “indelible stain” on the concept of international justice and law.

Netanyahu’s comments, in a televised speech for the opening ceremony of Holocaust Remembrance Day, appeared to be a reference to Israeli media reports that several government officials, including the prime minister, are concerned that such arrest warrants might be imminent.

While the ICC, based in The Hague, has declined to comment about any arrest warrants that could come out of its investigation into the war in Gaza, rumors have swirled in the Israeli press in recent weeks that the court could target Netanyahu and other key Israeli officials.

In his speech Sunday, Netanyahu emphasized that the ICC was “founded as a consequence of the Holocaust” and should not attempt to “undermine” Israel’s fundamental right to self-defense.

He argued that any arrests would restrict Israel’s ability to defend itself, calling it a “distortion of justice and history.”

“Even if Israel is forced to stand alone, we will stand alone, and we will continue to strike our enemies powerfully until victory. Even if we have to stand alone, we will continue to fight human evil,” Netanyahu added.

In a post on X in February, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said his office has “an ongoing and active investigation into the situation in the State of Palestine,” adding that his office was “actively investigating any crimes allegedly committed. Those who are in breach of the law will be held accountable.”

Israel is not a member of the ICC and rejects the court’s jurisdiction. That has not previously stopped the court from investigating its actions in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Fatou Bensouda, a former ICC prosecutor, spent five years conducting a “painstaking preliminary examination” in which she concluded she was “satisfied that war crimes have been or are being committed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.” But no arrests were made, and Bensouda left office in 2021.

Since the Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7 that left 1,200 people dead and some 250 taken hostage, both Hamas and Israel have been accused of war crimes. Since Israel launched its devastating military response to that attack, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.