NEWS

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The White House confirmed Monday that a top US Navy commander, Admiral Frank Bradley, ordered a second round of military strikes on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Bradley's actions as "well within his authority and the law," further clarifying that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized the initial September 2 strikes but did not issue the verbal order to "kill everybody" on board, an allegation first reported by the Washington Post.

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President Donald Trump on Saturday said that the airspace “above and surrounding” Venezuela should be considered as “closed in its entirety,” an assertion that raised more questions about the U.S. pressure on Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. His government accused Trump of making a ”colonial threat” and seeking to undermine the South American country’s sovereignty.

The White House did not respond to questions about what Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, and it was unclear whether he was announcing a new policy or simply reinforcing the messaging around his campaign against Maduro, which has involved multiple strikes in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean on small boats accused of ferrying drugs as well as a buildup of naval forces in the region. More than 80 people have been killed in such strikes since early September.

The Republican president addressed his call for an aerial blockade to “Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers,” rather than to Maduro.

Venezuela’s government said it “forcefully rejects” Trump’s claim about closing the airspace and that it was a “colonial threat” intended to undermine the country’s “territorial integrity, aeronautical security and full sovereignty.”

The statement also said that U.S. immigration authorities had unilaterally suspended biweekly deportation flights of Venezuelan migrants. Following negotiations between the two governments, more than 13,000 Venezuelans have been deported to Venezuela this year on dozens of chartered flights, the latest of which arrived late Friday in Caracas, the capital, according to flight-tracking data. 

International airlines last week began to cancel flights to Venezuela after the Federal Aviation Administration told pilots to be cautious flying around the country because of heightened military activity.

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The UK and the US have reached an agreement to maintain zero tariffs on UK pharmaceutical shipments into America. This deal requires the UK to pay more for medicines through the NHS—the first such increase in over 20 years—in exchange for a three-year guarantee that US import taxes on UK-made pharmaceuticals will remain at zero.