#venezuela

#venezuela

Spanish prosecutors are probing evidence that the company made an inadequate use of public funds approved by the Spanish government on March 9, 2021, and that the bailout money was instead used to pay off previously existing loans. Plus Ultra appears as a signatory and beneficiary of loan agreements with three companies belonging to the criminal organization, and involved in sales of gold, states the documentation seen by EL PAIS.

"We've just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, a large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually," Trump told reporters at the White House. Trump said the tanker "was seized for a very good reason." The US president added that "other things are happening," without offering any additional details. Reporters asked Trump what would happen with the oil, he replied: "We keep it, I guess."

Zoom in: The U.S. has sanctioned Venezuela's oil shipments for years, but never before seized an oil-laden tanker of this size departing the country, which has the world's largest proven oil reserves. The vessel is known as a VLCC, or Very Large Crude Carrier, capable of transporting as much as 320,000 deadweight tons of crude, two sources with direct knowledge said. The exact details of the seizure, first reported by Bloomberg, are unclear and administration officials could not be reached for comment.

The military blew up a boat, killing nine people and leaving two alive. The alleged drug boat was apparently split in two. The two survivors were clinging to the top of a capsized piece of a boat trying to right it. The admiral in charge of the mission decided that the two survivors might radio for help, collect some floating bales of cocaine, and continue their effort to smuggle drugs.

One of the genuine surprises of Donald Trump's second term has been his recent fixation on foreign policy. He always claimed he would be an "America First" president whose only real interest in a grubby world full of Euro-wimps and "shithole countries" was to make them all leave us alone. He clearly hasn't changed his dim view of foreigners, but he does crave a legacy as someone who simultaneously ended multiple conflicts and made his country the most powerful military machine in human history.

Those actions fit the textbook definition of a war crime under the Department of Defense Law of War Manual, which stresses that in the case of shipwrecked individuals who are "in need of assistance and care" without an operable boat, who "refrain from any hostile act," the department cannot consider them as active targets.

US President Donald Trump claims to be cracking down on drug gangs in Venezuela but has pardoned a Honduran drug lord serving 45 years in the US. As the United States ramps up strikes on Venezuelan boats and threatens a land invasion to fight alleged drug trafficking networks, President Donald Trump has pardoned Honduras's former President Juan Orlando Hernandez and released him from a 45-year prison sentence in the US for weapons and drug trafficking offences.

During my six years as foreign minister, I learned diplomatic prudence, and then, in these years as president, with the experience of being foreign minister and having been mentored by our Commander Chavez, I value prudence, Maduro said, referring to the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, under whom he was foreign minister. I don't like diplomacy with microphones; when there are important matters, they must be handled quietly until they are resolved!

Twenty-eight paragraphs into the story that first focused attention on the murder Pete Hegseth ordered back in September (though as it notes, Nick Turse first revealed the second shot just days after the attack) is this revelation: it took four strikes to kill first the people then destroy any debris from the targeted boats. The boat in the first strike was hit a total of four times, twice to kill the crew and twice more to sink it, four people familiar with the operation said.

Will wrote in a Washington Post op-ed on Tuesday that Hegseth has seemingly turned himself into a war criminal based on strikes on alleged drug boats leaving Venezuela. According to a report from The Washington Post, citing sources familiar with the situation, Hegseth ordered everyone aboard the boat to be eliminated, prompting critics to question whether he is guilty of a war crime. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seems to be a war criminal. Without a war. An interesting achievement, Will wrote in his op-ed,

Mr. President, thank you so much for taking questions with your assembled cabinet. I wanted to clarify something that you had said on Sunday regarding the boat strikes near Venezuela. You had said that you didn't know if the second strike on that one boat had happened, but you wouldn't have wanted it, Gutierrez began, adding: Now that your administration has acknowledged that it happened, do you support that second strike?