Venezuela sends troops to Colombia border as US ships join cartel operation
Two more US ships said to join amphibious squadron due to arrive off coast of Venezuela in anti-drug cartel operation. Venezuela has announced the deployment of 15,000 troops to its border with Colombia to fight drug trafficking, as the United States was reported to have sent two additional navy ships to the southern Caribbean as part of an operation against Latin American drug cartels. Venezuelan Minister of the Popular Power for Interior Diosdado Cabello announced on Monday that Caracas would deploy 15,000 troops to bolster security in Zulia and Tachira states, which border Colombia. “Here, we do fight drug trafficking; here, we do fight drug cartels on all fronts,” the minister said, while also announcing the seizure of 53 tonnes of drugs so far this year. Cabello said the increased security on the border with Colombia, to “combat criminal groups”, would also involve aircraft, drones and riverine security, according to local media outlet Noticias Venevision, as he called on Colombian authorities to do the same to “ensure peace along the entire axis”. The reinforcement of Venezuelan troops on the Colombian border comes after the Trump administration accused Venezuela’s left-wing president, Nicolas Maduro, of being involved in cocaine trafficking and working with drug cartels. Officials in Washington, DC, have accused both Maduro and Cabello of working with the Cartel de los Soles (“Cartel of the Suns”) drug trafficking organisation, which Washington has designated a terrorist group. The accusations were made as the US announced last week that it had doubled a reward to $50m for the capture of Maduro on drug charges. The US earlier this year increased a reward for Cabello’s arrest or prosecution from $10m to $25m. Advertisement Maduro has accused the US of attempting to foment regime change in Venezuela, and launched a nationwide drive to sign up thousands of militia members to strengthen national security in the country amid the threats from Washington. “I am confident that we will overcome this test that life has imposed on us, this imperialist threat to the peace of the continent and to our country,” Maduro was quoted as saying in local media on Monday. The Reuters news agency also reported on Monday that the USS Lake Erie, a guided missile cruiser, and the USS Newport News, a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, will arrive in the southern Caribbean by early next week. Citing two sources briefed on the deployment, Reuters said the missile cruiser and attack submarine would join the US amphibious squadron that was due to arrive off the coast of Venezuela on Sunday. The squadron includes the USS San Antonio, USS Iwo Jima and USS Fort Lauderdale, and is said to be carrying 4,500 US service members, including 2,200 Marines, according to reports. Trump has made the targeting of Latin American drug cartels a central focus of his administration, and has designated Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and other drug gangs, including Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua, as global terrorist organisations. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,279
Here are the key events on day 1,279 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Here is how things stand on Tuesday, August 26: Fighting An 82-year-old woman was killed and three people were injured in a Russian attack on Kupiansk city, in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. Russian attacks killed one person and injured three others in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Governor Vadym Filashkin said. Russian drones and artillery fire injured a rescue worker and damaged a fire truck in the Nikopol region of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, according to Governor Serhiy Lysak. A Ukrainian drone attack killed one person and injured two others in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian region of Luhansk, Russia’s state TASS news agency reported. TASS also reported that Russian forces shot down 151 Ukrainian drones and four aerial bombs, and destroyed two missile launchers, in one day. One person was killed and two others injured in Ukrainian attacks on the Russian-occupied Ukrainian Kherson region, the Russian-appointed governor, Vladimir Saldo, wrote in a post on Telegram. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces captured the settlement of Zaporizke in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region. Peace talks Germany will take part in providing security guarantees for Ukraine alongside European partners, but the talks are at an early stage and must be shaped by Kyiv, German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil said on Monday, while visiting the Ukrainian capital. Asked why Russia President Vladimir Putin appears reluctant to sit down for peace talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US President Donald Trump told reporters it is “because he doesn’t like him”. “The one I thought would be the easiest, frankly, was Russia and Ukraine. But it turns out there are some big personality conflicts,” Trump said. Putin spoke on the phone with Iranian leader Masoud Pezeshkian and discussed his meeting with Trump in Alaska, the Kremlin press service said, according to the RIA Novosti news agency. “Masoud Pezeshkian expressed support for the ongoing diplomatic efforts aimed at a peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian crisis,” the Kremlin said. Advertisement Ukraine aid Speaking at a news conference with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine aims to raise “no less than $1bn every month”, towards buying weapons from the United States to be used in the war. Polish President Karol Nawrocki vetoed a bill that would have extended financial support to Ukrainian refugees, potentially also jeopardising Ukraine’s use of Starlink, according to Polish Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski. “This is the end of the Starlink Internet, which Poland provides to Ukraine, which is waging war. This is also the end of support for storing Ukrainian administration data in a safe place,” Gawkowski, who is from a different political party than Nawrocki, wrote on X. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Adblock test (Why?)
Australia accuses Iran of directing anti-Semitic attacks, expels envoy
DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Australia will also designate the IRGC as a ‘terrorist entity’. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has accused Iran of directing at least two anti-Jewish attacks in his country and announced plans to expel Iran’s ambassador to Canberra. Speaking to reporters in the Australian capital on Tuesday, Albanese described the attacks as attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in Australia. “It is totally unacceptable, and the Australian government is taking strong and decisive action,” he said. “A short time ago, we informed the Iranian ambassador to Australia that he will be expelled.” The prime minister said Australia has also suspended operations at its embassy in the Iranian capital, Tehran, and moved all of its diplomats to a third country. “I can also announce the government will legislate to list Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, as a terrorist organisation,” he added. Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong said the Iranian ambassador, Ahmad Sadeghi, and three of his colleagues have been declared persona non grata and given seven days to leave the country. She said the move marked the first time that Australia has expelled an ambassador since World War II and that the country has also withdrawn its envoy to Tehran. Still, the Albanese government will maintain some diplomatic lines with Iran to advance Canberra’s interests, Wong said, advising Australians in the Middle Eastern country to return home. She also warned Australians considering travelling to Iran to refrain from doing so. More soon. Adblock test (Why?)
Trump to South Korea’s Lee: ‘Look forward’ to meeting N Korea’s Kim Jong Un
In White House meeting with Lee, Trump also says US should have ownership of land housing US military base in South Korea. United States President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung have expressed their willingness to engage with North Korea’s hereditary leader, Kim Jong Un, during a meeting at the White House. Lee, who has promised to “heal the wounds of division and war” as South Korea’s new president, told the US leader on Monday that his North Korean counterpart “will be waiting” to meet him. “I hope you can bring peace to the Korean Peninsula, the only divided nation in the world, so that you can meet with Kim Jong Un”, and “build a Trump Tower in North Korea so that I can play golf there”, Lee said, speaking in Korean. Trump, who has met with Kim on three past occasions, told reporters in the Oval Office that he hopes to meet the North Korean leader again this year. “Someday, I’ll see him. I look forward to seeing him. He was very good with me,” Trump said, adding that he knew Kim “better than anybody, almost, other than his sister”. During his meeting with the South Korean president, Trump also said the US should have ownership of South Korean land where some 28,500 American troops are stationed in US military bases. “We spent a lot of money building a fort, and there was a contribution made by South Korea, but I would like to see if we could get rid of the lease and get ownership of the land where we have a massive military base,” Trump said. This was Lee’s first visit to the White House after he was elected in June following the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk-yeol, who briefly imposed martial law late last year in a move swiftly overturned by lawmakers and which has led to his arrest on alleged insurrection charges. Advertisement Since taking office, Lee has publicly made efforts to improve South Korea’s relationship with its northern neighbour. But Pyongyang has so far rebuffed the diplomatic overtures. Last week, Lee said he would seek to restore the so-called September 19 Military Agreement, signed at an inter-Korean summit in 2018, suspending military activity along South Korea’s border with North Korea as part of an effort to rebuild trust. Lee’s announcement was met with criticism from North Korea, which noted that it came as South Korea embarked on joint military drills with the United States. North Korean state media said that the drills proved Washington’s intention to “occupy” the entire Korean Peninsula . “If they continuously persist in the military rehearsal, they will certainly face up the unpleasant situation and pay a dear price,” Kim Yong Bok, first vice-chief of the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army, was cited by North Korean state media KCNA as saying. ‘A raid on churches’ Hours before Lee arrived at the White House, Trump took to social media to denounce what he described as “a Purge or Revolution” in South Korea. “WHAT IS GOING ON IN SOUTH KOREA? Seems like a Purge or Revolution. We can’t have that and do business there,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. Asked about his post during his meeting with Lee, Trump said, “I am sure it’s a misunderstanding, but there’s a rumour going around about raiding churches … I did hear that from intel.” Last month, South Korean Special Prosecutor Min Joong-ki’s team raided Unification Church facilities and officials linked with the religious sect, while “investigating various allegations involving former first lady Kim Keon Hee”, South Korea’s official Yonhap News Agency said. Seoul police also raided Sarang Jeil Church, headed by evangelical preacher Jun Kwang-hoon, who led protests in support of the removed President Yoon. The police have also investigated pro-Yoon activists who stormed a court in late January after it extended Yoon’s detention, and in July, special prosecutors investigating the declaration of martial law served a search warrant on the Korean part of a military base jointly operated with the US. Adblock test (Why?)
Trump bans burning of US flag in defiance of constitutional protections
The US Supreme Court ruling says flag burning is an expression protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution. United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order punishing those who burn the country’s flag with one year in jail, despite a longstanding court ruling that flag burning is protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution. The order, signed on Monday, acknowledges the 1989 Supreme Court decision, which found that flag burning is protected as free speech, but argued that it is “likely to incite imminent lawless action”. “If you burn a flag, you get one year in jail; no early exits, no nothing,” Trump said as he signed the order. “You get one year in jail, and it goes on your record, and you will see flag burning stopping immediately,” he added. The move has been condemned by free speech groups who say that the order violates key civil liberties, as Trump pursues a vision of executive power with few constraints. “President Trump may believe he has the power to revise the First Amendment with the stroke of a pen, but he doesn’t,” the free speech advocacy group FIRE said in a statement. “The government can’t prosecute protected expressive activity — even if many Americans, including the president, find it ‘uniquely offensive and provocative’,” it added. Monday’s executive order calls on Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute those involved in flag burning to the “fullest extent possible”. The order claims without evidence that flag burning is being used by foreign nationals to intimidate and threaten Americans. The order also threatens visa revocation, deportation and more for foreign nationals who do so. Advertisement The order says that flag burning is tantamount to “incitement” or “fighting words”, with Trump saying that flag burning “incites riots at levels we’ve never seen before”. There is no evidence for this claim, which has been dismissed by legal experts. “I don’t think this is something that has been a big problem,” GS Hans, a law professor at Cornell University who focuses on the First Amendment, told the Associated Press news agency. “It’s a solution in search of a problem.” Adblock test (Why?)
Trump orders removal of Fed governor Cook over mortgage fraud claims
United President Donald Trump has ordered the removal of Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook amid unproven claims of mortgage fraud, an unprecedented move that immediately raised fears for the central bank’s independence. In a letter posted on social media on Monday night, Trump said Cook, one of the seven members of the Fed’s Board of Governors, was being sacked “effective immediately” in accordance with his powers under the US Constitution and the 1913 Federal Reserve Act. Citing claims aired last week by US federal mortgage regulator, Trump said there was “sufficient reason to believe you may have made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements”. “The Federal Reserve has tremendous responsibility for setting interest rates and regulating reserve and members banks,” Trump said in the letter, which was shared on his platform Truth Social. “The American people must be able to have full confidence in the honesty of the members entrusted with setting policy and overseeing the Federal Reserve. In light of your deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter, they cannot and I do not have such confidence in your integrity.” “At a minimum, the conduct that issue exhibits the sort of gross negligence in financial transactions that calls into question your competence and trustworthiness as a financial regulator,” Trump added. Trump had on Friday threatened to fire Cook, a former Michigan State University professor who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, if she did not resign. Advertisement In response to inquiries by Al Jazeera, a spokesperson for the Federal Reserve said the bank had no comment at the moment but would “keep you posted”. Trump’s extraordinary move is set to raise further questions about the independence of the US central bank, which has been under intense pressure from the president to lower interest rates. The ability of the Fed to set interest rates, which affects the cost of borrowing for consumers and businesses, without being subject to political interference is widely considered a key plank of confidence in the US economy. The removal of Cook could also set off a series of protracted legal challenges. “In all likelihood – because of the stakes involved and the absence of relevant case law in this area – it will be challenged in court,” David Wilcox, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics who served on the staff of the Federal Reserve Board, told Al Jazeera. “Unfortunately, that process will probably be lengthy – perhaps running for many months.” “In the meantime, investors are immediately facing the reality that the latitude of the Fed to conduct monetary policy in relentless pursuit of price stability and maximum employment may not be as great as they thought yesterday,” Wilcox added. “The damage done to confidence in the US system will not be easily or quickly repaired.” Under the Federal Reserve Act and US Supreme Court precedent, the president must demonstrate “cause”, widely interpreted to mean malfeasance, to fire any of the central bank’s seven governors. In a letter addressed to US Attorney General Pam Bondi and Department of Justice official Ed Martin earlier this month, Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte, a staunch Trump ally, alleged that Cook had listed two properties as her primary home addresses. In the letter, shared on social media, Pulte said that Cook appeared to have “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favourable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud under the criminal statute”. Mortgage loans for primary residences typically have lower interest rates as they are considered lower risk than those for investment properties. In response to Pulte’s letter, Cook said last week that she would gather information about her financial history “to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts”, but added that she had “no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet”. Adblock test (Why?)
Irish activists knit blanket representing children killed in Gaza
[unable to retrieve full-text content] Video shows a blanket knitted by Irish activists as a tribute to children killed in Gaza. Each square of the blanket rep
Al Jazeera journalist killed in Israeli attack on Nasser hospital in Gaza
[unable to retrieve full-text content] An Al Jazeera journalist is among 15 Palestinians killed in an Israeli attack on the Nasser hospital in Gaza.
Vietnam prepares to evacuate half a million people ahead of Typhoon Kajiki
More than 16,500 soldiers and 107,000 paramilitary personnel have been mobilised to help with the evacuation. Tens of thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate from Vietnam’s coastline facing the South China Sea, with airports and schools shut as authorities brace for Typhoon Kajiki. The Vietnamese government said on Monday that about 30,000 people had been evacuated from coastal areas. Authorities said on Sunday that more than half a million people would be evacuated and ordered boats to remain in port. “This is an extremely dangerous fast-moving storm,” the government said in a statement on Sunday night, warning that Kajiki would bring heavy rains, flooding and landslides. More than 16,500 soldiers and 107,000 paramilitary personnel have been mobilised to help with the evacuation and to stand by for search and rescue, the government said in a statement. The typhoon with winds of up to 166km/h (103mph) at sea is due to make landfall on Monday afternoon, the country’s weather agency said. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center said conditions suggested “an approaching weakening trend as the system approaches the continental shelf of the Gulf of Tonkin where there is less ocean heat content”. Two airports in the Thanh Hoa and Quang Binh provinces have been closed, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam. Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air cancelled dozens of flights to and from the area on Sunday and Monday. Coastal provinces have banned ships from going out to sea starting Monday and were calling in those already out, said Vietnam’s news agency. Vietnam is prone to storms that are often deadly and trigger dangerous flooding and mudslides. More than 100 people were killed or went missing due to natural disasters in the first seven months of 2025, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. Advertisement Last year, Typhoon Yagi killed about 300 people and caused property damage of approximately $3.3bn. ‘A bit scared’ The waterfront city of Vinh was deluged overnight, its streets largely deserted by morning with most shops and restaurants closed as residents and business owners sandbagged their property entrances. “I have never heard of a typhoon of this big scale coming to our city,” 66-year-old Le Manh Tung, in the city of Vinh, told the AFP news agency. He is sheltering alongside other evacuated families at an indoor stadium. “I am a bit scared, but then we have to accept it because it’s nature – we cannot do anything.” Houses run the risk of collapse from the storm, and even high-rise buildings could suffer serious damage, said Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, the official Vietnam News Agency reported. The storm is projected to move inland across Laos and northern Thailand. Kajiki hit the southern coast of China’s Hainan Island on Sunday as it moved towards Vietnam. About 20,000 residents were evacuated from the Chinese province, which downgraded its typhoon and emergency response alerts on Monday morning. But authorities warned of heavy rain and isolated storms in cities in the southern part of the province. Adblock test (Why?)
US National Guard troops begin carrying weapons in Washington, DC
The military said some troops are now carrying guns as Trump claims there is now ‘no crime’ in the US capital. National Guard troops patrolling the United States capital at the direction of President Donald Trump have started carrying firearms, the military said on Sunday. “Starting the late evening of August 24, 2025, [Joint Task Force-DC] service members began carrying their service-issued weapon,” the Joint Task Force-DC said in a statement. The troops are only authorised to use force “as a last resort and solely in response to an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm”, the statement said. Unnamed officials told the Reuters news agency that the National Guard would either carry M17 pistols or M4 rifles. The announcement came as Trump claimed, without evidence, on Sunday that there is “NO CRIME AND NO MURDER IN DC!”, one week after he deployed troops there. In the same post on Truth Social, Trump said he might “send in the ‘troops’” to neighbouring Baltimore, which he described as “out of control” and “crime-ridden”. Responding to an invitation from Maryland Governor Wes Moore to visit Baltimore and walk its streets, Trump said: “I would much prefer that he clean up this Crime disaster before I go there for a ‘walk’.” However, according to the Baltimore police department, there was a double-digit reduction in gun violence in July compared with the previous year. The city has had 84 homicides so far this year – the fewest in more than 50 years, according to Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott. In Washington, DC, which has a population of just more than 700,000 people, thousands of National Guard and federal law enforcement officers are now patrolling the streets. Advertisement The National Guard is a part-time force of reserve soldiers, which, according to the US Army, can be called on to respond to domestic emergencies, overseas combat missions and “counter-drug efforts”. People protest against Trump’s use of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops in the city during a rally along the U-Street corridor in northwest Washington, DC, on Saturday [Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo] Their presence in the national capital, along with federal law enforcement officers, has been met by protests, as well as fear and confusion from residents. At Trump’s request, some Republican governors have sent hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington, DC, which the president has depicted as being in the grip of a crime wave, although official data shows crime is down in the city. Since Washington, DC, is not a state, the president has the power to take over policing in the capital for up to 30 days. Many residents have long advocated for the district to become a state. However, Democrats did not further pursue efforts to make it a state after passing a bill in favour of it through the then-Democrat-controlled House of Representatives in 2020. Meanwhile, JB Pritzker, the Democratic governor of Illinois, on Sunday rejected Trump’s push to send troops into Chicago. “Donald Trump is attempting to manufacture a crisis, politicise Americans who serve in uniform, and continue abusing his power to distract from the pain he is causing working families,” Pritzker said in a statement. Adblock test (Why?)