Senate Republicans vote down legislation to limit #Trump’s ability to attack #Venezuela.

#WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans voted to reject legislation Thursday that would have put a check on President Donald Trump’s ability to launch an attack against Venezuela, as Democrats pressed Congress to take a stronger role in Trump’s high-stakes campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Lawmakers, including top Republicans, have demanded that the Trump administration provide them with more information on the U.S. military strikes against alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. But Thursday’s vote, on legislation that would essentially forestall an attack on Venezuelan soil without congressional authorization, suggested Republicans are willing to give Trump leeway to continue his buildup of naval forces in the region.

“President Trump has taken decisive action to protect thousands of Americans from lethal narcotics,” said Sen. Jim Risch, the Republican chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Still, the vote allowed Democrats to press their GOP colleagues on Trump’s threats against Venezuela. The legislation failed to advance 49-51, with Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska the only Republicans voting in favor.

The U.S. is assembling an unusually large force, including its most advanced aircraft carrier, in the Caribbean Sea, leading many to conclude that Trump intends to go beyond just intercepting cocaine-running boats. The campaign so far has killed at least 69 people in 17 known strikes, the latest carried out Thursday against a boat in the Caribbean.

“It’s really an open secret that this is much more about potential regime change,” said Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who pushed the resolution. “If that’s where the administration is headed, if that’s what we’re risking — involvement in a war — then Congress needs to be heard on this.”

Some Republicans are uneasy with Caribbean campaign

Republican leadership pressed Thursday to make sure the legislation failed, but several senators still carefully considered their vote.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, another Republican who voted against the resolution, said that he still has doubts about the campaign. He pointed out that it was expensive to change the deployment location for an aircraft carrier and questioned whether those funds could be better used at the U.S.-Mexico border to stop fentanyl trafficking.

Tillis said that if the campaign continues for several months more, “then we have to have a real discussion about whether or not we’re engaging in some sort of hybrid war.”

Sen. Todd Young, an Indiana Republican, said in a statement that he voted against the legislation because he didn’t believe it was “necessary or appropriate at this time.”

But he added that he was “troubled by many aspects and assumptions of this operation and believe it is at odds with the majority of Americans who want the U.S. military less entangled in international conflicts.”

The push for congressional oversight

As the Trump administration has reconfigured U.S. priorities overseas, there has been a growing sense of frustration among lawmakers, including some Republicans, who are concerned about recent moves made by the Pentagon.

At a hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier Thursday, Sen. Roger Wicker, the Republican chair, said that many senators have “serious concerns about the Pentagon’s policy office” and that Congress was not being consulted on recent actions like putting a pause on Ukraine security assistance, reducing the number of U.S. troops in Romania and the formulation of the National Defense Strategy.

GOP senators have directed their ire at the Department of Defense's policy office, which is led by Elbridge Colby, an official who has advocated for the U.S. to step down its involvement in international alliances.

“It just seems like there’s this pigpen-like mess coming out of the policy shop,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, during another Armed Services hearing earlier this week.

As pushback has mounted on Capitol Hill, the Trump administration has stepped up its outreach to lawmakers. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth held a classified briefing for congressional leaders Wednesday. The officials gave details on the intelligence that is used to target the boats and allowed senators to review the legal rationale for the attacks, but did not discuss whether they would launch an attack directly against Venezuela, according to lawmakers in the meeting.

Still, Democrats have tested the unease among Republicans by forcing the vote on the potential for an attack on Venezuela under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which was intended to reassert congressional power over the declaration of war. A previous war powers vote pertaining to the strikes against boats in international waters also failed last month on a 48-51 vote, but Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, who pushed the legislation, said he still plans to force more votes.

“We should not be going to war without a vote of Congress. The lives of our troops are at stake,” Kaine said in a floor speech.

Democrats also argued that the Trump administration was using a flimsy legal defense for an expansive military campaign that is putting U.S. troops and the nation’s reputation at risk. Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services panel, charged that Trump is engaging in “violence without a strategic objective” while failing to take actions that would actually address fentanyl smuggling.

“You cannot bomb your way out of a drug crisis,” he said.

Stephen Groves, The Associated Press

Putin tells officials to submit plans for possibly resuming nuclear tests after Trump’s remarks.

MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered officials on Wednesday to submit proposals for a possible resumption of nuclear tests in response to President Donald Trump’s statements last week that appeared to suggest the U.S. will restart its own atomic tests.

Speaking at a meeting with his Security Council, Putin reaffirmed his earlier statement that Moscow will only restart nuclear tests if the U.S. does so first. But he directed the defence and foreign ministries and other government agencies to analyze Washington’s intentions and work out proposals for resuming nuclear weapons tests.

On Oct. 30, Trump appeared to signal that the U.S. will resume testing nuclear weapons for the first time in three decades, saying it would be on an “equal basis” with Russia and China.

But U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday that new tests of the U.S. nuclear weapons system ordered by Trump will not include nuclear explosions.

Trump made the announcement on social media while in South Korea, days after Putin announced successful tests of the prospective nuclear-powered and nuclear capable cruise missile and underwater drone. Putin’s praise for the new weapons that he claimed can’t be intercepted appears to be another message to Trump that Russia is standing firm in its maximalist demands on settling the conflict in Ukraine.

The U.S. military also has regularly tested nuclear-capable weapons, but it has not detonated atomic weapons since 1992. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which the U.S. signed but did not ratify, has been observed since its adoption by all countries possessing nuclear weapons, North Korea being the only exception.

Putin in 2023 signed a bill revoking Russia’s ratification of a global nuclear test ban, which Moscow said was needed to put it on par with the U.S. The global test ban was signed by President Bill Clinton but never ratified by the U.S. Senate.

During Wednesday’s Security Council meeting, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov reported to Putin about U.S. efforts to modernize its atomic arsenals, arguing that along with a possible resumption of nuclear tests by Washington they “significantly increase the level of military threats to Russia.”

Belousov suggested that Moscow immediately start preparations for nuclear tests on the Arctic Novaya Zemlya archipelago. He added that the site, where the Soviet Union last tested a nuclear weapon in 1990, was ready for quickly resuming the explosions.

Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the military’s General Staff, also vouched for quickly starting preparations for tests.

“If we don’t take appropriate measures now, we will miss the time and opportunity to respond promptly to the U.S. actions, as it takes from several months to several years to prepare for nuclear tests, depending on their type,” Gerasimov said.

After hearing from military leaders and other top officials, who noted the conflicting signals from Washington on whether the U.S. will restart nuclear explosions, Putin ordered government agencies to “gather additional information on the issue, analyze it within the framework of the Security Council and submit co-ordinated proposals on the possible start of work on preparations for nuclear weapons tests.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized that Putin didn’t order a start to preparations for nuclear tests and for now only told officials to analyze whether it’s necessary to begin such work. He said in remarks carried by the state Tass news agency that Moscow needs to fully understand U.S. intentions before making further decisions.

Later, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of the Security Council chaired by Putin, said the Russians have no choice but to treat Trump’s comments seriously.

“No one knows what Trump meant about `nuclear testing’ (he probably doesn’t himself),” Medvedev posted on X. “But he’s the president of the United States. And the consequences of such words are inescapable: Russia will be forced to assess the expediency of conducting full-fledged #nuclear tests itself.”

North #Korea slams U.S. sanctions on cybercrimes and says pressure tactics will fail.

The statement by a North Korean vice foreign minister came after the U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on eight individuals and two firms, including North Korean bankers, for allegedly laundering money from cybercrime schemes.

The Treasury said North Korea’s state-sponsored hacking schemes have stolen more than US$3 billion in mostly digital assets over the past three years, an amount unmatched by any other foreign actor, and that the illicit funds help finance the country’s nuclear weapons program. The department said North Korea relies on a network of banking representatives, financial institutions and shell companies in North Korea, China, Russia and elsewhere to launder funds obtained through IT worker fraud, cryptocurrency heists and sanctions evasion.

The sanctions came even as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to express interest in reviving talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Their previous nuclear discussions collapsed in 2019 during Trump’s first term amid disagreements over trading relief from U.S.-led sanctions on the North for steps to dismantle Kim’s nuclear program.

“Now that the present U.S. administration has clarified its stand to be hostile towards the DPRK to the last, we will also take proper measures to counter it with patience for any length of time,” the North Korean vice minister, Kim Un Chol, said in a statement, invoking the North’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

He said U.S. sanctions and pressure tactics will never change the “present strategic situation” between the countries or alter the North’s “thinking and viewpoint.”

Kim Jong Un has shunned any form of talks with Washington and Seoul since his fallout with Trump in 2019. He has since made Russia the focus of his foreign policy, sending thousands of troops and large amounts of military equipment to help fuel President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, while pursuing an increasingly assertive strategy aimed at securing a larger role for North Korea in a united front against the U.S.-led West.

In a recent speech, Kim urged Washington to drop its demand for the North to surrender its nukes as a precondition for resuming diplomacy. He ignored Trump’s proposal to meet while the American president was in South Korea last week for meetings with world leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

Kim Tong-hyung, The Associated Press

Brazil’s Lula puts forward new vision for protecting the Amazon rainforest

#Israel says returned hostage remains are those of seized soldier. Israel confirmed Wednesday that the remains handed over by Hamas the day before belonged to Israeli-American soldier Itay Chen, who was seized by Palestinian militants during the October 2023 attacks that sparked the Gaza war.

The remains were returned by Hamas on Tuesday evening as part of the ongoing Gaza ceasefire deal brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump.

“Following the completion of the identification process... IDF representatives informed the family of the fallen hostage, Staff Sergeant Itay Chen, that their loved one has been returned to Israel and positively identified,” the prime minister’s office said.

The Israeli military also confirmed Chen’s identity in a separate statement.

Chen, a dual Israeli-U.S. national, was working at the border with the Gaza Strip when Hamas and its allies launched their attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

He gave a last sign of life to his parents when the attack started.

The Israeli military only announced his death five months later in March 2024. It said he had died in combat and his body had been taken to Gaza.

Hours before Chen’s body was handed over on Tuesday, his parents had told AFP they hoped Israeli authorities would not leave their son in Gaza.

“We feel the support of the entire nation, the people are behind us and want to see all the hostages returned,” said Ruby Chen, Itay’s father.

“I hope the prime minister and the chief of staff understand this too -- seize the opportunity (of the ceasefire) to finish this mission,” he said.
‘Unbearable’ pain

Itay’s mother, Hagit Chen, said she would “not be able to take a single step forward in my life without Itay’s return”.

“Even when we break down, which happens every day, I remind myself that we have not finished our mission,” she said.

“We miss him; the pain is unbearable.”

Itay Chen, who was 19 when he was abducted, is the 21st deceased hostage whose remains have been handed over by Hamas to Israel since a ceasefire in Gaza took effect on Oct. 10.

Hamas’s armed wing said earlier on Tuesday that his body had been recovered in “the Shujaiya neighbourhood east of Gaza City during ongoing search and excavation operations inside the yellow line”, referring to the boundary marking Israeli military positions within Gaza.

At the start of the truce, Hamas held 48 hostages in Gaza -- 20 alive and 28 deceased.

The militants have since released all the surviving captives.

The 21 deceased hostages whose remains have been repatriated include 19 Israelis, one Thai national and one Nepali.

In a statement on Tuesday, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the militant group was working on “completing the process of handing over the bodies of the Israeli captives despite the difficulties and obstacles”.

“We are working to complete the entire exchange process as soon as possible,” he added.

Israel has accused Hamas of dragging its feet in returning the bodies of deceased hostages, while the Palestinian group says the process is slow because many are buried beneath Gaza’s rubble.

The group has repeatedly called on mediators and the Red Cross to provide it with the necessary equipment and personnel to recover the bodies.

Trees, targets and trillions: what’s on the agenda at COP30?

This year’s United Nations climate summit promises to be symbolic, marking a decade since the Paris Agreement and taking place in the environmentally vulnerable Amazon. But what is actually on the agenda?

The marathon negotiations gather nearly every country to confront a challenge that affects them all but unlike recent editions, this “COP” has no single theme or objective.

That does not mean big polluters will get off easily at COP30 in Brazil, with climate-vulnerable nations frustrated at their level of ambition and financial assistance to those most affected by a warming planet.

Here are the big issues to look for as world leaders gather in the city of Belem on Thursday and Friday before the start of formal negotiations the following week:
Emissions

The world is not cutting emissions fast enough to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and no amount of pomp and pageantry at COP30 will be able to sugarcoat that uncomfortable reality.

Under the climate accord, signatory nations are required every five years to submit stronger targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, thereby steadily raising the collective effort to reduce global warming over time.

The latest round of pledges for 2035 were due in February to give the UN time before COP30 to assess the quality of these commitments.

Most nations missed that deadline but by early November, about 65 had turned in their revised plans. Few have impressed and China’s target in particular fell well below expectations.

The European Union, riven by infighting between member states, cannot agree on its target, while India is another major emitter yet to finalise its pledge.

A reckoning could be coming in Belem. Brazil -- which described the latest round of pledges as “the vision of our shared future” -- is facing pressure to marshal a response.
Money

Money -- specifically, how much rich countries give poorer ones to adapt to climate change and shift to a low-carbon future -- is a likely point of conflict in Belem, as in past COPs.

Last year, after two weeks of acrimonious haggling, COP29 ended unhappily with developed nations agreeing to provide $300 billion a year in climate finance to developing ones by 2035, well below what is needed.

They also set a much less specific target of helping raise $1.3 trillion annually by 2035 from public and private sources. Developing nations will be demanding some actual detail about this at COP30.

Adaptation is a major focus of the summit, particularly a funding shortfall to assist vulnerable nations in protecting their people from climate impacts, such as building coastal defences against rising seas.
Forests

Brazil chose to host COP30 in Belem because of its proximity to the Amazon, an ideal stage to draw the world’s attention to the vital role of the rainforest in fighting climate change.

At COP30, the hosts will launch a new, innovative global fund that proposes rewarding countries with high tropical forest cover that keep trees standing instead of chopping them down.

The Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF) aims to raise up to $25 billion from sponsor countries and another $100 billion from the private sector, which is invested on financial markets. Brazil has already kicked in $1 billion.

Clement Helary, from Greenpeace, told AFP the TFFF “could be a step forward in protecting tropical forests” if accompanied by clearer steps at COP30 towards ending deforestation by 2030.

The destruction of tropical primary forest hit a record high in 2024, according to Global Forest Watch, a deforestation monitor. The equivalent of 18 football fields per minute was lost, driven mostly by massive fires.

German-American model and TV personality Heidi Klum wore a Medusa costume for her annual Halloween event.

Truck rams into bus in southern India, killing at least 20 people, The state-run transport bus was carrying around 70 passengers en route to the city of Hyderabad in southern Telangana state when a truck coming from the opposite direction collided with it near the town of Chevella, local district official K. Chandrakala told The Associated Press.

The front of the bus was badly mangled, trapping several passengers inside. Heaps of stone chips or gravel were seen dumped inside the bus, burying alive at least one passenger who was later counted among the dead.

The rescue teams struggled to cut through the bus to retrieve the bodies.

Rajendra Prasad, superintendent at Chevella hospital said 20 bodies were moved to the mortuary and will be handed over to their families after identification.

Drivers of both the vehicles were among those dead.

So were three siblings in college from a family in Tandur town. “What will I do without my daughters,” their mourning father, Yellaiah Goud, said as relatives tried to console him.

Footage aired in local media showed a mother and her infant lying next to each other, both dead.

The bus conductor, Radha, who goes by single name, said there was “ear shattering noise when the truck hit the bus.” She sustained head injuries and was being treated.

The accident came a day after a minibus carrying passengers in western state of Rajasthan rammed into a parked truck late Sunday, killing at least 15 people and injuring two others.

The passengers were returning to the desert city of Jodhpur after offering prayers to a Hindu deity in the pilgrimage town of Kolayat, officials said.

Among the dead were 10 women, four children, and the driver, senior government official Shweta Chauhan told The Associated Press. The injured were hospitalized.

The victims were trapped in a mangled mass of metal, Chauhan said.

Senior police officer Kundan Kanwaria said the driver was trying to overtake another vehicle but crashed into the truck parked on the highway.

It is not uncommon in India for vehicles to be parked haphazardly along highways, often without warning lights or reflectors. They pose serious risks for nighttime drivers and have led to several deadly crashes in recent years.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences to the bereaved families of both accidents.

The crash in Rajasthan came less than three weeks after a suspected short circuit sparked a fire on a passenger bus in the state, rapidly engulfing the vehicle in flames and burning at least 20 people to death.

___

Rajesh Roy And Omer Farooq, The Associated Press

A timeline of U.S. strikes on boats that have killed 64. The U.S. military has killed 64 people in 15 strikes that have destroyed 16 boats as part of a campaign that Washington says is aimed at curtailing the flow of drugs into the United States.

There have been three survivors of those strikes, two of whom were briefly detained by the U.S. Navy before being returned to their home countries.

The Trump administration has told Congress that the U.S. is now in an “armed conflict” against drug cartels beginning with its first strike on September 2, labeling those killed “unlawful combatants” and claiming the ability to engage in lethal strikes without judicial review due to a classified Justice Department finding.

Some members of Congress as well as human rights groups have questioned that finding and argued that potential drug traffickers should face prosecution, as had been the policy of interdiction carried out by the U.S. before President Donald Trump took office.

The Trump administration has also not provided public evidence of the presence of narcotics on the boats struck, nor their affiliation with drug cartels.

Military officials have said that no U.S. service members have been harmed in the strikes.

Here is the timeline of the attacks:
September 2, first attack

The first strike on a vessel in the Caribbean took place on September 2.

Trump announced the offensive on his social media accounts and said that under his orders, US forces “conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility.”

“TDA is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, operating under the control of Nicolas Maduro, responsible for mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence and terror across the United States and Western Hemisphere,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!” he added.

CNN reported that Defense Department officials have not, during briefings to members of Congress, presented conclusive evidence that the targets of the first attack were members of Tren de Aragua, and that those briefed said military officials could not determine the intended destination of the boat with certainty.

CNN also reported that the boat appeared to have turned around before it was struck.

The strike killed 11 people.
September 15

Less than two weeks later, the US military carried out a second strike against a vessel in international waters, killing three.

Trump said the vessel was allegedly “transporting illegal narcotics” from Venezuela.

“These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels POSE A THREAT to US National Security, Foreign Policy, and vital U.S. Interests,” he added.

The strike came amid rising tensions with that country, as the United States deployed military assets to the region.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has described the strikes on boats as “serial executions” and called on the UN to investigate, while saying that the US is seeking regime change. Venezuela’s defense minister, Vladimir Padrino, said it amounts to “an undeclared war,” while the foreign ministry denounced Washington’s “military threat.”

At the time, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said they expected more activity in the Caribbean in an effort to reduce drug traffic into the US.
September 19

Four days later, Trump announced another lethal military strike on a suspected drug trafficking vessel that he said was affiliated with a designated terrorist organization.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics, and was transiting along a known narcotrafficking passage enroute to poison Americans,” Trump posted on Truth Social alongside a video of the operation.

Three people were killed in the strike.
October 3

Hegseth announced that the US military had carried out a fourth strike in which four people died.

The attack took place in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela, Hegseth wrote in a post on social media.

He did not say which alleged terrorist organization the boat was linked to, but added that “Our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route.”
October 14

Six people died in the fifth US strike on a vessel, this boat described by officials as off the Venezuelan coast.

Once again, Trump said the vessel was “affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization,” but he did not name a specific group or provide evidence of the boats activities.

In a letter to Congress in early October, the Pentagon said Trump had determined that the United States is in an “armed conflict” with the drug cartels his administration designated as terrorist organizations, and that cartel traffickers are “unlawful combatants.”
October 16

The US carried out a sixth strike on a boat in the Caribbean. This was believed to be the first operation in which not all crew members on board were killed.

The two survivors, one each from Ecuador and Colombia, were sent back to their home countries after being briefly detained on a US Navy ship.

“At least 25,000 Americans would die if I allowed this submarine to come ashore. The two surviving terrorists are being returned to their Countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, for detention and prosecution,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Jeison Obando Pérez, 34 years old, was identified as the survivor repatriated to Colombia in a post on X by the country’s minister of the interior, Armando Benedetti. Pérez arrived “with brain trauma, sedated, drugged, breathing with a ventilator,” said Benedetti, who added that he had received medical attention.

The survivor from Ecuador, was identified as Andrés Fernando Tufiño Chila, 41 years old, according to a record from the National Police of Ecuador accessed by CNN. He arrived in the country on October 18 and underwent a medical evaluation.

The Office of the Attorney General of Ecuador reported on October 20 that there is no information that Tufiño Chila had committed a crime in Ecuadorian territory. However, US court documents indicate that he was arrested, convicted and imprisoned in 2020 for drug smuggling on the coast of Mexico before being deported.

“No, no… He is not. He is not a criminal,” said Tufiño Chila’s sister, who requested anonymity for security reasons, in statements to CNN from a small coastal town near Guayaquil, Ecuador.
October 17

Hegseth announced that a seventh targeted vessel “transporting substantial amounts of narcotics” was struck and that it was affiliated with a Colombian terrorist organization.

All three crew members on board were killed.

“These cartels are the Al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere, using violence, murder and terrorism to impose their will, threaten our national security and poison our people,” Hegseth wrote.

“The United States military will treat these organizations like the terrorists they are—they will be hunted, and killed, just like Al Qaeda.”

The attacks sparked public clashes with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who accused the United States of killing an innocent Colombian citizen during one of its strikes on vessels in the Caribbean. Trump announced he would cancel all US aid and subsidies to the country.
October 21 and 22, first attacks in the Pacific

The US military carried out lethal strikes on two ships in the Pacific, killing everyone on board each vessel, according to Hegseth.

Two people were killed in the eighth strike and three in the ninth.

Hegseth wrote on X that the first vessel targeted in the Pacific was “operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific,” adding, “The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling.”

The action against vessels in the Pacific appeared to mark an expansion of the US military campaign, as the previous seven attacks were all conducted against ships in the Caribbean Sea.

“Narco-terrorists intending to bring poison to our shores, will find no safe harbor anywhere in our hemisphere,” Hegseth said.
October 24

The tenth attack killed all 6 crew members.

The Defense secretary said the US conducted a nighttime attack on a ship allegedly operated by Tren de Aragua in the Caribbean.
October 27, multiple strikes

Hegseth reported multiple strikes in a single day for the first time, with three missiles hitting four vessels in international waters of the eastern Pacific on Monday, 27th.

He reported that 14 people were killed aboard the vessels “operated by designated terrorist organizations” and that there was one survivor who was not recovered.

“The four vessels were known by our intelligence apparatus, transiting along known narco-trafficking routes, and carrying narcotics,” the Defense Secretary stated.

Hegseth said that the US military had contacted the Mexican government to look for the survivor. The Mexican Navy said Friday that the search is in a “suspended active” status and the person is considered missing.
October 29

The United States Armed Forces carried out an attack on a vessel in the Pacific Ocean that left four dead, Hegseth reported.

“This vessel, like all the others, was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” the Defense Secretary said in a post on X. He added that US forces suffered no casualties.
November 1

The US military carried out a strike on another vessel in the Caribbean Sea and killed three people on board, according to Hegseth.

“Today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on another narco-trafficking vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) in the Caribbean,” Hegseth announced on X with an unclassified video of the strike. No US forces were harmed in the strike, he noted.

By Michael Rios, Avery Schmitz and Matt Stiles

#LONDON, November 2. The United States upgrading a long-abandoned base Puerto Rico obviously preparing for potential military operations in Venezuela, Reuters said, citing satellite photos.

According to the agency, construction works at the former Roosevelt Roads naval base in Puerto Rico which was closed more than 20 years ago, began on September 17 when operations to clear and repave taxiways leading to the runway began. Apart from that, the United States is expanding civilian airport infrastructure in Puerto Rico and on the island of Saint Croix, the US Virgin Islands. These territories are located some 500 miles (around 800 kilometers) off Venezuela.

Washington accused Caracas of not doing enough to combat drug smuggling. Under this pretext, the US deployed large forces to the Caribbean. The Miami Herald reported earlier, citing sources, that "the Trump administration has made the decision to attack military installations inside Venezuela and the strikes could come at any moment." Meanwhile, speaking to reporters, US President Donald Trump denied that he had made a decision to deliver strikes on Venezuela.