23 h. ago Colombia’s Petro accuses Trump of ‘extrajudicial executions’ in boat strikes

Colombia’s leftist president ramped up denunciations of Donald Trump’s anti-drug air strikes and swatted aside US threats to freeze hundreds of millions of dollars in aid Thursday. Fuelling a spat that threatens to shatter ties between the long-allied nations, Gustavo Petro said: “Mr Trump has slandered me and insulted Colombia”. Petro accused Trump of “carrying out extrajudicial executions” that “violate international law” by striking alleged drug-trafficking boats. The US has destroyed nine...

Politics

46 h. ago US widens campaign on suspected drug boats with first deadly strike in Pacific

The US military struck a suspected drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, expanding an aggressive campaign of air strikes that so far had been limited to the Caribbean Sea. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike in a social media post on Wednesday, saying two people were killed. “Narco-terrorists intending to bring poison to our shores, will find no safe harbour anywhere in our hemisphere,” Hegseth wrote. In a brief video Hegseth posted, a small boat,...

Events

46 h. ago US widens campaign on suspected drug boats with first lethal strikes in Pacific

The United States has announced strikes on two alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Pacific Ocean that left five people dead, expanding the Trump administration’s campaign against drug trafficking in South America. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the two strikes on boats in the Pacific - one on Wednesday and another the day before - in social media posts showing the vessels being engulfed in flames. “Just as Al Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our...

Events

9 d. ago Trump says US strike on another alleged drug boat off Venezuela kills 6

The United States struck another small boat accused of carrying drugs in the waters off Venezuela, killing six people, US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday. Those who died in the strike were aboard the vessel, and no US forces were harmed, the president said in a social media post. It was the fifth deadly strike in the Caribbean as Trump’s administration has asserted it was treating alleged drug traffickers as unlawful combatants who must be met with military force. US Defence Secretary...

Events

2 w. ago US strike on boat in Caribbean may have killed Colombians, Petro says

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said on Wednesday there were “signs” that Colombian citizens were killed in the last small boat attacked by the US military off the coast of Venezuela. “A new front in the war has opened: the Caribbean,” Petro wrote on the social platform X. “Signs show that the last bombed boat was Colombian with Colombian citizens aboard.” He did not provide any explanation for what those signs were. “I hope that their families come forward and report it,” he added. Neither...

Events

2 w. ago Hegseth says he has ‘every authorisation needed’ for Caribbean boat strikes

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said he has every authorisation needed for US military strikes on vessels just off the coast of Venezuela allegedly carrying illegal drugs. Hegseth was speaking in a Fox News interview broadcast on Sunday. The United States killed four people in a strike in the Caribbean Sea on Friday, at least the fourth such attack in recent weeks. “We have every authorisation needed. These are designated as foreign terrorist organisations,” Hegseth said in an interview on Fox...

Events

2 w. ago Trump says US hit another boat off Venezuela, hints land operations next

US forces hit another vessel allegedly carrying illegal drugs off the coast of Venezuela on Saturday evening, US President Donald Trump said on Sunday, adding that the US would also start looking at drug trafficking occurring on land. Trump made the comment during a speech at Naval Station Norfolk, next to the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier. It was not immediately clear if he was referencing a strike announced on Friday by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. That strike, at least the fourth...

Politics