WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said Friday that it has carried out a deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the first known attack since the raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier this month.

U.S. Southern Command said on social media that the boat was “engaged in narco-trafficking operations” and that the strike killed two people and left one survivor. It said it notified the Coast Guard to launch search and rescue operations for that person.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-cartels-drug-trafficking-maduro-venezuela-af363f997081aeec85f10effe83631e6

https://apnews.com/article/ice-detainee-death-homicide-aa4d7384023b72ec10daa70fcc667cd2

The South Texas sheriff was indicted alongside his assistant chief in November. The charges, unsealed Thursday, accuse them of opening a private business, Disinfect Pro Master, in April 2020 and entering into agreements with local businesses and restaurants “despite having no employees or supplies of their own.”

The company secured a $500,000 contract to clean schools in Laredo, which they fulfilled using department staff and resources, U.S. Attorney Nicholas Ganjei of the Southern District of Texas said in a statement.

“For more than two years, the business allegedly operated almost entirely with county employees and supplies, incurring minimal overhead,” Ganjei said, alleging that Cuellar and two deputies split the profits three ways, each coming away with about $175,000.

Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar, brother of Rep. Henry Cuellar, indicted on federal fraud charges

The five-term sheriff and brother of Congressman Henry Cuellar denied all wrongdoing through his lawyer.

^{Eleanor Klibanoff (The Texas Tribune)}

“To achieve this end,” the document details, “they have abandoned renewable energy projects, used patent litigation to hinder rivals, suppressed information concerning the hidden costs of fossil fuels and viability of alternatives, infiltrated and knowingly misdirected information-producing institutions, surveilled and intimidated watchdogs and public officials, and used trade associations to coordinate market-wide efforts to divert capital expenditures away from renewable energy—all to further one of the most successful antitrust conspiracies in United States history.”

'Groundbreaking': Michigan Sues Big Oil 'Cartel' for Conspiracy to Block Renewable Energy

The case accuses "four of the largest energy companies in the world" of conspiring "to forestall meaningful competition from renewable energy and maintain their dominance in the energy market."

^{jessica-corbett (Common Dreams)}

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20260123-trump-says-us-is-closely-watching-iran-as-massive-fleet-heading-towards-gulf/