The inaugural season features five franchise teams competing between January 30 to February 4 at Thailand's world-class Terd Thai Cricket Ground, with West Indies icon Sir Viv Richards serving as Thailand ambassador. The inaugural season features five franchise teams competing between January 30 to
Trump admin's 'lethal kinetic strike' on drug vessel in Pacific kills 2: On cam
The United States conducted a strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean Tuesday, killing two people, defense secretary Pete Hegseth said.
The fresh strike, reportedly 16th in the series of Trump administration's crackdown in South American waters, has taken the death toll in the campaign to at least 66, according to figures mentioned in an AP news agency report.
Hegseth, in a post on social media platform X, shared a video of a boat being engulfed in flames after the strike. He said that intelligence had confirmed that the vessel was “involved in illicit narcotics smuggling” and “transiting along a known narco-trafficking route…carrying narcotics.”
Hegseth further said that the Donald Trump-led administration's priority was the protection of their homeland. “We will find and terminate EVERY vessel with the intention of trafficking drugs to America to poison our citizens,” Hegseth added.
The US began its strikes on the alleged drug boats in early September, and has till now killed 67 people in the Caribbean and Pacific, AFP news agency reported. Seventeen vessels have so far been destroyed in the strikes, including 16 boats and a submersible.
However, the US has, till now, not made any evidence suggesting the vessels were targeting smuggling narcotics or were posing a threat to America.
This drug interdiction operation has also resulted in a major US military buildup around Latin America, according to the AFP report.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who faces indictment in US on drug charges, has accused Washington of using this as an excuse for “imposing regime change” in Caracas to seize the country's oil.
Maduro further insists that there is no drug cultivation in Venezuela, which he says is being used as a trafficking route for Colombian cocaine against its will, AFP reported.
Meanwhile, in a notice to Congress, the Trump administration said that the US is engaged in “armed conflict” with Latin American drug cartels, referring to them as terrorist groups.
The US has deployed multiple warships, including F-35 stealth warplanes, and the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group in the region.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has expressed willingness to mediate between the two countries, and on Tuesday said he hoped there will be no US ground incursion into Venezuela.
Source: HindustanTimes
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The inaugural season features five franchise teams competing between January 30 to February 4 at Thailand's world-class Terd Thai Cricket Ground, with West Indies icon Sir Viv Richards serving as Thailand ambassador. The inaugural season features five franchise teams competing between January 30 to
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