This episode is brought to you by Patriot Gold Group. Protect your retirement assets. Speak with the experts over at Patriot Gold. Now, they've been the top-rated gold IRA dealer for seven years in a row, and as you know, that's a lot of years in a row. Go to patriotgoldgroup. Com or call 1-888-621-3856 for a free investor guide. It's Thursday, 29 August. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world's stage. Let's get briefed. First up, Prime Minister Netanyahu has signaled that Israel may partially suspend their military operations against Hamras in Gaza to allow the distribution of the polio vaccine to young children in the Gaza Strip. Also, we'll have the latest from Venezuela, where protesters are once again taking to the streets across the country over their disputed, okay, let's call it stolen, presidential election, as dictator Nicolas Maduro is accused of kidnapping a key ally of the opposition. But first, our afternoon spotlight. While a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continues to prove elusive, it does appear that certain parts of Gaza could soon be granted a temporary reprieve from the violence. The United Nations is preparing a vaccination campaign to inoculate some 640,000 children in Gaza from polio and had called last month for a humanitarian truce to facilitate the vaccinations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back Thursday on reports that his government had agreed to a general truce but did signal that there could be a partial suspension of the IDF's military operations in select sections of the enclave. That's according to the Guardian. In a carefully worded statement from Netanyahu's office, the Prime Minister said Israel had not agreed to, full pauses in the fighting to administer polio vaccines, but rather, the allocation of certain places in the Gaza Strip in an effort to aid the UN's vaccination efforts. The wording appears designed to make it clear that Israel will not suspend the bulk of their military operations in Gaza without a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. Netanyahu is also so eager to avoid alienating far-right members of his governing coalition who oppose any form of a truce with the terrorist group. A senior State Department official confirmed Israel's position on Thursday to the Washington Post. Speaking anonymously, the official said that US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, had made a major push to make arrangements on the subject of the polio vaccines in his face-to-face meeting with Netanyahu in Israel early last week. The official noted that while Israel has agreed to help facilitate the UN's administration of the vaccines, details of the possible locations and duration of individual pauses in operations are still being worked out.

On Sunday, Israel confirmed the arrival of more than one million doses of polio vaccines in Gaza, which they said were being held in refrigerated trucks in coordination with the UN. The campaign comes after the World Health Organization confirmed on August 23rd that at least one baby in Gaza has been paralyzed by the type 2 poliovirus. That's the first confirmed case of the disease in Gaza in roughly a quarter century. The confirmation prompted the UN to swiftly organize the vaccine drive as children, of course, are the most at risk of contacting the highly contagious virus. The UN's vaccine campaign is set to begin this weekend, but infectious disease experts know that it will be, well, next to impossible to stymie the spread in an active war zone. They say that to stop the virus in its tracks, they'll need to inoculate 90% of the estimated 640,000 children under the age of 10 in Gaza. Of course, that is a very tall order given the widespread displacement of civilians in the enclave. All right, coming up after the break, protesters are once again taking to the streets in Venezuela over their disputed presidential election as dictator Nicolaus Maduro is accused of kidnapping a key ally of the opposition.

Well, how very despotically dictatorial of Maduro. I'll be right back.

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Welcome back to the Afternoon Bulletin. Let's get a quick update on the ongoing unrest and contested election situation in Venezuela. A opponents of Nicolas Maduro took to the streets in Caracas on Wednesday, marking a month since the disputed 28 July election that many believe was rigged in his favor. And by many, I mean, well, everybody except for Maduro, Minions, and of course, Mrs. Maduro. And even Mrs. Maduro is probably a little bit like, Was it free and fair? I don't know. It seems a little sketchy. Despite Maduro's use of increasingly authoritarian measures, opposition leaders continue to rally for transparency and international intervention in a bid to overturn the stolen election. Maria Corina Machado, the leader of the Venezuelan opposition, resurfacing after weeks in hiding since the election for fear of arrest or worse, accused Maduro Muchado's regime of, quote, kidnapping one of her allies, Perkins Rocha, who was reportedly seized by secret police on Tuesday. In a post on X, Machado, vow to continue the fight against the regime, stating, They want to vanquish us, distract us, and terrify us. We will continue to move forward for Perkins, for all the prisoners and those being persecuted, and for the whole of Venezuela, end quote.

The aftermath of the election has seen a severe crackdown on dissent, with more than 1,600 people reportedly detained under orders from Maduro's government, and at least over two dozen killed. And bullied by the belief that they could possibly force Maduro to negotiate, several thousand people gathered in Caracas on Wednesday, though in smaller numbers compared to earlier protests. These revised demonstrations, held under the slogan, Voting records kill sentence, focused on the opposition's demand to release individual polling station results to prove that the election was rigged against opposition candidate Emundo González. On the eve of the protest, Maduro reinforced his authoritarian grip in a major cabinet reshuffle, appointing Diosdado Cabello, a hardline figure within the regime, as the new interior minister. His position gives Cabello control over the National Police and Intelligence Services, and of course, those would be key instruments of state power. Caballo, known for his ruthlessness, has held top posts under former leader Hugo Chávez and Maduro, earning a reputation as a calculating pragmatic bruiser. His nickname, the Octopus, reflects his extensive control within the government. But honestly, I sometimes think these dictators and their cronies, well, they need to spend a bit more time coming up with their nicknames.

I'm not sure if the Octopus really hits the mark. Anyway, these fears were seemingly validated when another prominent opposition politician, Biagio Pilieri, was reportedly detained by security forces after attending Majado's rally in Caracas. The capture of Bilieri, coming so soon after Rocha's abduction, has further stoked fears that the government is intensifying its efforts to crush the opposition. Meanwhile, in Washington, The Organization of American States, known as OAS, convened a special meeting to discuss the deteriorating situation in Venezuela. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights presented a report condemning the Venezuelan government's use of institutional violence and called for an immediate end to arbitrary detentions and violence by pro-government forces. Well, excellent. That should take care of it. Look, in my decades of experience overseas in hostile and challenging environments, well, there's nothing a despot fears more than a harshly worded condamnation from a human rights commission. And that, my friends, is the PDB Afternoon Bulletin for Thursday, 29 August. If you have any questions or comments or humorous anecdotes, maybe a dad joke or two, please reach out to me at pdb@thefirsttv. Com. Of course, to listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting pdbpremium.

Com. Remember, as the Weekend approaches, well, so too does another episode of our extended weekend show, the PDB Situation Report. New episodes launch every Friday evening at 10:00 PM on the First TV. Also available for your viewing enjoyment on our YouTube channel at President's Daily Brief and all podcast platforms. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.