Foreign
Trump Declares Venezuelan President Wanted For Drug Trafficking, Offers $65M Bounty
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The U.S. government under Donald Trump’s administration has placed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and two of his top allies on its most wanted list, accusing them of leading an international drug-trafficking network.
In a statement released Tuesday, the U.S. Department of State announced a combined $65 million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Maduro, Diosdado Cabello Rondón, and Vladimir Padrino López.
The breakdown includes a $25 million bounty on Maduro, another $25 million on Cabello, and $15 million on Padrino.
U.S. authorities allege the trio are at the helm of Cartel de los Soles, a powerful drug-trafficking organisation recently designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. Treasury Department.
A wanted poster issued by the State Department describes Maduro as a “designated global terrorist cartel de los soles leader” and lists charges including narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and conspiracy to use and carry machine guns and destructive devices in furtherance of a drug crime.
“@USTreasury just sanctioned Cartel de los Soles as a terrorist group. Run by the corrupt and contemptible Nicolás Maduro, it is responsible for trafficking drugs into the U.S.,” the statement said.
“Help us take down Maduro and his cronies Diosdado Cabello Rondón & Vladimir Padrino López!”
The announcement comes a day after Maduro marked the one-year anniversary of his re-election, a vote the U.S. and its allies have dismissed as fraudulent.
In a fresh jab, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called Maduro an “illegitimate dictator” during Venezuela’s municipal elections on Sunday.
The U.S. has refused to recognise Maduro’s government since 2019 and has imposed multiple rounds of sanctions targeting Venezuela’s political elite and state-owned enterprises.
With the $65 million reward now in play, Washington appears to be escalating its push to dismantle Maduro’s grip on power and strike at the heart of what it describes as a narco-terrorist regime.
Foreign
Georgia Mayor Fires Entire Police Force For Upsetting His Wife
The mayor of a small Georgia town has fired his entire police force for upsetting his wife.
Cohutta Mayor Ron Shinnick shut down the Cohutta Police Department and fired all 10 of its employees earlier this week after officers allegedly made “inappropriate comments” about his spouse on Facebook, WDEF reported.
“The PD has been dissolved, and all personnel have been terminated,” read a brutal sign on the department’s door first thing Wednesday.
“They’ll get a paycheck. We’re not that way, and I appreciate their service, okay? It is time for a change,” Shinnick said bluntly when asked about the controversy.
According to the New York Post, tensions boiled over late last month after several officers filed formal complaints alleging that the town’s former clerk, Pam Shinnick who is also the mayor’s wife continued working for the town despite being fired.
She was terminated last year for apparently creating a “hostile work environment” in the town of less than 1,000 people — but allegedly still had access to personal and classified information.
In the wake of the formal complaints, the mayor held a joint press conference with Police Chief Greg Fowler and town attorney Brian Rayburn to say they’d managed to resolve the dispute through “open dialogue and good-faith mediation.”
But roughly a week later, the cops were all fired anyway.
“This all comes to personal vendetta from the mayor and I wholeheartedly believe that,” said one of the axed officers, Sgt. Jeremy May, adding that they’d been assured their jobs weren’t in jeopardy for lodging complaints about the mayor’s wife.
“Official response from the town attorney: Nobody’s jobs are in jeopardy,” May said. “Here we are, less than a week later, nobody has a job.”
“We took a stand for transparency, and in result, every one of them has lost their jobs,” he added.
The mayor, for his part, blamed the conflict on “inappropriate comments” posted on Facebook by the officers.
For now, the fired officers have been ordered to return all department equipment.
The Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office is set to take over policing for the small town.
Foreign
Cause Of CNN Founder, Ted Turner’s Death Revealed
American entrepreneur cum founder of the Cable News Network (CNN), Ted Turner, has died at the age of 87.
Turner Enterprises announced the death in a press release issued on Wednesday, stating that Turner died after battling Lewy body dementia, a progressive brain disorder.
In a statement, CNN CEO and Chairman Mark Thompson, paying tribute to the deceased, described Turner as a committed leader.
Thompson said, “Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgement.
“He was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN. Ted is the giant on whose shoulders we stand, and we will all take a moment today to recognize him and his impact on our lives and the world.”
Robert Edward Turner III, born November 19, 1938, was an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor and philanthropist.
He founded the Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour cable news channel.
In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television, and TNT, a television network.
In 1991, Time named Turner its Man of the Year, citing his influence in transforming global television news and making viewers in over 150 countries “instant witnesses of history.”
Although he later sold his networks to Time Warner and eventually stepped away from the business, Turner continued to describe CNN as the “greatest achievement” of his life.
Foreign
Middleast war: Ceasefire deadline with Iran not over – Pentagon
U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that the ceasefire with Iran was not over, even as the U.S. and Iran exchanged fire in the Gulf as they wrestled for control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Hegseth said the U.S. had successfully secured a path through the critical waterway and that hundreds of commercial ships were lining up to pass through, as Washington seeks to break a chokehold Iran has asserted on the Strait of Hormuz since the conflict began on February 28.
“We know the Iranians are embarrassed by this fact. They said they control the strait. They do not,” Hegseth told a Pentagon news conference.
The U.S. military says it sank six Iranian small boats and intercepted Iranian cruise missiles and drones, after President Donald Trump sent the navy to escort stranded tankers through the Strait of Hormuz in a day-old campaign he called “Project Freedom.”
Several merchant ships in the Gulf reported explosions or fires on Monday, the first day of the operation.
General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iran attacked Oman once on Monday and waged three attacks on the United Arab Emirates, before adding that, at least so far, “today is quieter.”
Caine said that since the ceasefire was announced on April 7, Iran had fired at commercial vessels nine times and seized two container ships. Iran has attacked U.S. forces more than 10 times, he added.
However, the attacks fell “below the threshold of restarting major combat operations at this point,” Caine told reporters.
Asked whether the ceasefire with Iran still held, Hegseth said: “No, the ceasefire is not over.”
“We said we would defend and defend aggressively, and we absolutely have. Iran knows that, and ultimately, the president can make a decision whether anything were to escalate into a violation of a ceasefire,” he said.
The operation is Trump’s latest effort to force an end to the disruption of international energy supplies caused by Iran’s blockade of the strait, which carried a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas before the war.
The U.S. Navy is also enforcing a maritime blockade of Iran, which prevents ships from going to Iran or departing Iranian territory.
The two military operations seek to pressure Iran to strike a deal to end the conflict on Trump’s terms. But Iran has countered that there is no military solution to the crisis, and it has threatened to fight for as long as necessary.
The U.S. military said on Monday two U.S. merchant ships made it through the strait, with the support of Navy guided-missile destroyers.
Iran denied any crossings had taken place, though shipping company Maersk said the Alliance Fairfax, a U.S.-flagged ship, exited the Gulf under U.S. military escort on Monday.
Caine estimated 22,500 mariners embarked on more than 1,550 commercial vessels were stuck in the Gulf, unable to transit.
“CENTCOM, along with partner nations, is in active communication with hundreds of ships, shipping companies and insurers,” Hegseth said, referring to the U.S. military’s Central Command, which leads operations in the Middle East.
“All of these ships from all around the world want to get out of the Iranian trap that they have been stuck inside.”
[Reuters]
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